LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 



^^I^"^ 



®';ap-^- - ®mm¥ l?a.. 

Shelf ..S.ili? 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



-c 



■T 






^^ 



^\^' 















T) 



'X 






,^^ 



NORTHWESTERN POMOLOGY 



A TREATISE ON THE GROWING AND CARE OF 



TREES, FRUITS AND FLOWERS 



In the Northwestern States 



C. W. GURNEY 



CONCORD, NEBRASKA 
TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS A NURSERYMAN AND ORCHARDIST 



"The first glad tones that rang for me 

Were Woodland whispers, soft and mild; 
The Woods sang me a lullaby 

As sings a Mother to her child." '.,,;•.. 










^^? 



CONCORD, NEBRASKA ^ 

PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR 

1894 



Copyrighted 1894, by C. W. Gurney. 






Press of Skeen, Baker & Co., 334 Dearborn St., Cbicago. 



DEDICATION. 

To the man or woman who loves a tree or flower, 
the green grass, or the voices of nature, the sing- 
ing birds, "The complaining brooks that make 
the meadows green." 

To the man or woman of whatever nationality 
who has become the landed proprietor of a part of 
this glorious free Northwest and who is willing to 
work to make a beautiful home, and to "Make 
Home Beautiful," this little work is respectfully 
and warmly dedicated by 

The Author. 



PREFACE. 

In presenting this little volume to my brother 
Horticulturists and Orchardists I shall make no 
apologies, neither shall I make any great claim 
especially to literary merit. The work is not pre- 
pared to show how much the author knows, for the 
wisest of us know but little, but for the sole pur- 
pose of giving such careful, practical information 
as the author in his earlier experiences stood so 
much in need of, and for which he has frequently 
spent on a single trivial matter, many times more 
than the cost of this volume entire. 

This work will, as its name implies, be restricted 
to the "Northwest." There are very many and 
very excellent works upon Horticulture, but, with 
one exception, none have been restricted to any 
particular locality. The exception named is 
' 'Warder's American Pomology. ' ' This is a most 
valuable work, and will, while there remain upon 
the earth lovers of trees, plants, flowers and fruit, 
be an indispensable text book. But, although it 
purports to be restricted and dedicated to the North- 
west, Dr. Warder lived in Cincinnati, Ohio, and 
this locality was, at the time the book was written, 
pretty well Northwest. But the ''Northwest" of 
to-day is a very different territory, with very^ differ- 
ent wants, which must be met with very different 



PREFACE. 



practices. This work will be confined in a general 
way to the states of Iowa, Wisconsin, IMinnesota, 
Illinois, Nebraska and the Dakotas. Even this is a 
large field, and one which I enter upon with many 
misg^ivinors. No information is better than that 
which is erroneous. It shall be my constant en- 
deavor not to mislead, but to tell that which is the 
most necessary, in the plainest and fewest words. I 
know that in some matters I shall be compelled to 
differ from other authors, but when I do so, shall 
endeavor to give their views as well as my own. 

After twenty-eight consecutive years of hard 
work, study and observation, even a very ordinary 
person should have acquired much information. I 
do not claim to be other than ordinar}', but, if a 
sincere love of the work, and close observation, 
together with a reduction of theory to experimental 
knowledge in numberless cases should fit me to be 
an instructor of those not so situated, or condi- 
tioned, then I have the right to claim that privilege 
and refer you to the following pages without further 
comment. C. W. Gurney. 

Concord, Neb., Nov. 28, 1893. 



INTRODUCTION. 

THERE was a time when to advocate the 
cultivation of fruits as a specialty in this 
country, would have subjected the author to 
ridicule. Especially is this true of the Great North- 
west. Within twenty years the author was told 
that to advocate the growing of fruit in this terri- 
tory was ''flying in the face of Divine Providence." 
The Almighty, they said, had made this country for 
the growing of live stock and grain, and other parts 
of the country for growing apples. Within the 
past few years this non-apple producing territory 
has sent hundreds, probably thousands of cars of 
apples to the eastern market, and even across the 
waters to Europe. This will be repeated, and 
many times before the eastern part of this country 
appreciates her true condition: that she is depend- 
ing upon the old plantings, and not making a 
proper provision for new ones when they are gone. 
The most convincing proof of our ability to grow 
fruit here is the fruit itself. There is practically 
no considerable part of the territory which this 
work is intended to cover where the people may 
not have an abundance of fruit for every month in 
the year. There is practically no part of this terri- 
tory where Dent corn will ripen, and can be profit- 



8 INTRODUCTION. 

ably grown where it is impracticable to grow 
apples. 

Where these cannot be grown there is the alter- 
native of small fruits, berries, and in most cases 
plums and cherries; these, with the cheap and 
simple facilities for canning, will, with little labor, 
supply the table during the year. 

There are many now engaged in growing these 
and other fruits for the market, and making a fine 
profit; but it is the /hrmer and home-maker who is 
constantly in our mind as we write these pages. 

We want to see the desolate, dreary-looking 
farms transformed into homes. You who till the 
soil have a right to the best that the soil will pro- 
duce. You have a right to as good and beautiful 
a home as your town or city brother. 

Is there not some unnecessary envy given by the 
farmer and his wife, as they drive into town and 
see the more beautiful homes of many of these peo- 
ple ? Do they not frequently jump at the conclu- 
sion that the difference between these and his dreary 
looking place is only another proof of the advant- 
ages of town over country life ? Instead of imbib- 
ing these discontenting ideas, why not say that you 
can have just as pretty a home in the country, and 
then bend all your energies toward making it ? In 
many cases, probably the most, the envious one is 
better able to afford these buildings and grounds 
than their owners. It is too common for the 
farmer to become *'land poor." He owns many 
acres that he cannot till nor use; he goes into debt 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

for land, and assoonashe can see out, buys another 
quarter. 

What is life for if we spend it in accumulating 
that which we cannot use, cannot take with us, 
but which makes a slave of its possessor ? 

It is a most commendable ambition to make a 
good home. Not necessarily a fine and expensive 
house, but the best you can afford; a lawn with 
some shrubs and flowers; a fruit garden and orchard. 
Try for a while a little different diet from the regu- 
lation kind: meat, bread and sometimes potatoes. 
See how the color will come to the cheeks of the 
wife and children, when there is spread upon your 
table the lucious strawberry, raspberr}^ g^'ape? the 
acid cherry that comes at the time when, tired and 
dusty, you come in from corn plowing. Use more 
fruit and less meat, and see how the world will 
grow brighter; how much healthier and conse- 
quently happier you will be. 

Some are deterred from planting fruit trees by a 
mistaken idea that it takes too long for young trees 
to come into bearing. Plant the trees as soon as 
your ground can be got ready, and see how little 
there is in this idea. You do not * Vait" for the 
fruit. Time will go on just the same, whether you 
have planted a tree or not. But if you will call it 
waiting, then plant at the same time strawberries, 
raspberries, blackberries, grapes, etc. The straw- 
berries and raspberries will bring you a full crop 
the second year, the currants, gooseberries, black- 
berries and grapes will come in the third, and by 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

that time the cherries and plums are in good bear- 
ing. So before you know that you have been wait- 
ing, or have lost any time, the apples begin to 
beckon you from their tossing boughs. 

It gives pleasure to acknowledge kindly assistance 
rendered me in this work by Prof. Bessy, of 
Nebraska; Prof. Budd, of Iowa, and J. Wragg, 
E. R. Heisz, C. G. Patten, also of Iowa; H. A. Terry, 
Samuel Edwards, J. V. Cotta and D. Hill, of 
Illinois; Peter M. Gideon and A. W. I^atham, of 
Minnesota. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Chapter I. page. 
The Nursery 13 

Chapter II. 
Hardiness of the tree and its adaptability to 1 ititudes 33 

Chapter III. 
Making theOrchard 41 

Chapter IV. 
Orchard Management 63 

Chapter V 
Pruning in General 71 

Chapter VI. 
Cross-pollenizing the Flowers 83 

Chapter VII. 
Enemies of theOrchard and Fruit Garden 91 

Chapter VIII. 
Propagation - 115 

Chapter IX. 
Landscape Gardening 135 

Chapter X. 
Plums .143 

Chapter XL 
Peaches and Apricots 157 

Chapter XII. 
Cherries 1()1) 

Chapter XIII. 
Small Fruits ., 179 

Chapter XIV. 
Grapes 203 

Chapter XV. 
Description of Apples and Pears 217 

Chapter XVI. 

Evergreens 255 

Chapter XVII. 

Humbugs 281 

11 



CHAPTER I. 

The Nursery. 

As this book is not intended as an instructor 
or guide for the advanced nurseryman, little 
attention will be paid to this, except as the grow- 
ing of a tree affects it in the hands of the planter. 
There has been much controversy since my rec- 
ollection regarding the proper methods of propa- 
gating the apple. The old fashioned way was to 
plant out seedlings and graft them *' standard 
height" or let them remain till in bearing and 
then graft in the smaller limbs such as did not pro- 
duce desirable fruit. This has been held up by one 
of the parties to this controversy as proof that this 
was the proper manner, as trees made in this way 
in the eastern states grew to immense size and 
were long lived and productive. This is one of the 
positions taken by the advocates of grafting upon 
the whole root at the collar (point just at the ground 
surface) or at a point higher up. They claim that 
only one natural tree can be made from one root, 
and that the attempt to make more than one, by 
dividing the seedling root into several pieces, is 
pernicious and produces only an inferior tree. In 
support of this, they bring photographs of trees 

13 



14 THE NURSERY. 

propagated on what they claim to be the ''^ ivhole 
roots''' and compare them with others claimed to 
be grafted on pieces of roots greatly to the disad- 
vantage of the latter. 

While these advocates bring considerable excel- 
lent authority to prove the correctness of their 
position, there is not an honest nurseryman who 
does not know at a glance that these photographs 
are unfairly selected, or that their section root 
grafts are not at all similar to those grown in the 
north. If these specimens are fairly chosen it is 
not strange that they have condemned them. 

On the other hand the advocates of the use of 
sections instead of the whole root, claim that for 
the north, or for rigorous climates, a good tree can- 
not be made in this way, for the reason that, as 
seedlings as a class are most universally tender, 
they must be deeply inserted in the ground for 
protection, and that the tree or cion which is to 
make the tree, will simply use this piece of a root 
until it can throw out a system of roots of its own 
from its own body, which will have all the quali- 
ties of hardiness or otherwise, possessed by the cion. 

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pages have been 
written pro and con upon this matter. It has been 
the text of not only the tree peddler, but the 
wholesaler and propagator, through which they dis- 
pose, or try to dispose of their goods. The matter 
seems to us to be very simple. 

First — the word ^ ' whole root' ' is only a catch 
word to sound well, for not one of them in their 



THE NURSERY. 1 5 

arguments claims to use only a piece of the root, but 
they claim that the piece is longer than a shorter 
piece used by others, and that but one tree is made 
from one seedling. So the question is really as to 
the merits of "crown grafting" or making the 
splice only at a point where the root and top meet, 
or by the other system, using not only this cut of 
the seedling but one or two others below it. Even 
the Hon. Secretary of Agriculture has, in a paper 
on "Early Nebraska Horticulture" made the mis- 
take of attributing the short life and inferior pro- 
ductiveness of Nebraska apple trees as compared 
with those of Michigan, to the root grafted trees 
of the former and top grafted of the latter. While 
it is true that trees of most kinds as grown in 
Nebraska are inferior to those grown in the humid 
climate of Michigan, and that apple trees are 
shorter lived here than there, it is not true that our 
trees are less productive than theirs. The oppo- 
site is true, and especially is it true that our trees 
come into bearing much earlier. If there were no 
other conditions that might be urged to explain 
the shorter period of life but the manner of propa- 
gation, how shall he explain the fact that peaches 
are grown in Michigan nearly 200 miles further 
north than his home in Nebraska ? Ex-Governor 
Furnas has declared that peaches cannot be raised 
practically any where in the State of Nebraska. 
The south line of Michigan runs through about 
the center of Nebraska. If we are to find an 
explanation for this, we must look for it in soQie 



1 6 THE NURSERY. 

other influences, as peaches are propagated the 
same the world over. 

In this paper he says that, although the nursery- 
men declare vehemently that root grafting is the 
best, he (who is not a propagator, and has given 
no great part of his life to exclusively horticult- 
ural pursuits) is " confident" that they are wrong. 
The nurserymen, who have given their lives to the 
work, as specialists, who have read, studied and 
experimented, have, in the north, all come to a 
different conclusion, and are not only "confident" 
that he is wrong but absolutely know it, and can 
demonstrate it at any time. 

He also makes the statement, ' ' Tap roots are 
indispensable for long life to orchard trees in 
Nebraska." This may be true, and we do not 
object to this except as it is intended to be his con- 
clusion that a root grafted tree has no tap roots, 
which is an error. He also says that his theory is 
rebutted by some who declare that some varieties 
have no tap roots; naming the Jonathan. He 
answers that there never was but one original Jon- 
athan, and that no one can tell whether it had a 
tap root or not. This is an error. Show me the 
roots of the Jonathan of to-day, propagated in any 
manner whatever, grown under the same condi- 
tions as surround the parent tree, and I will show 
you a type of the roots of the original tree. The 
top controls every characteristic of the roots, 
except identity. Let us take a common seedling 
and make two root grafts of it; we will give one- 



THE NURSERY. 1 7 

half, I care not which, to the Jonathan or Wine- 
sap, and the other half to the Tetofski. After 
three years we will dig them and find either of the 
former system of roots diverging downward and in 
side directions, while the latter has made a spike 
tap root probably 5 to 8 feet long, or at least twice 
as long as the height of the tree. 

It would be an anomaly if Nature should in this 
instance fail to provide for just the roots she wanted 
in case she was disturbed by an injury from an acci- 
dent or otherwise. 

The inference is intended to be conveyed by him 
that we should abandon root grafting and top work 
instead. This is theory, entirely unsupported by 
actual practice, and is a wholly unfit manner of 
propagating the apple in the northwest. It is so 
extremeh' impracticable as to verge closely on the 
impossible. Any one who will can satisfy himself 
upon this point by an experiment which is better 
than all the theory one can formulate in a lifetime 
devoted to it. This top working is the system 
formerly pursued in the eastern states and the old 
countries, in which the seeds of seedling trees 
were planted where they were to grow and grafted 
a year or two after at the ground surface or at 
some point higher on the stock. There is no pos- 
sible objection to this method where it can be suc- 
cessfully done, but it is not better theoretically nor 
practically than root grafting. 

Plant a row of apple seeds of 100 or more, let 
thfe young trees stand in the ground over one 



1 8 THE NURSERY. 

winter, and we shall find that nearly all will be 
dead. There may be a few alive, but it will be 
strange if there is one that would be fit to use as a 
stock to graft upon. If there should be any showing 
no discoloration or ''black heart" there could be 
no objection to using it to top graft, but, in order 
to carry out the idea perfectly, we must not remove 
it from where it stood, otherwise we shall lose 
the bottom of the tap root. This being severed 
we have exactly the conditions as in a root grafted 
tree so far as the roots are concerned. T. T. Lyon, 
of the U. S. Pomological Division, which is a part 
of the Department of Agriculture, and who has 
devoted a long life entirely to horticulture, not 
only in its scientific aspects, but as a practical 
propagator, says: "My observation would be that 
every tree has its own peculiar way of making root 
growth, and that it would not change it in the least 
whether it was grafted on a whole or piece root. I 
am in favor of that system which the soonest gets 
the tree upon its own roots. However there are 
with us a few exceptions, which you may not 
notice out here. I refer to the Canada Red in par- 
ticular. There seems no way to induce a good 
growth on it except by top working. To grow it 
from either whole or piece roots would be impossi- 
ble with us, as it is such a slow grower. I can 
hardly see that there would be any advantage in 
using whole roots, so far as root system is con- 
cerned. Each variety of the apple has its own 
peculiar way of rooting, and the cion most surely 



THE NURSERY. 1 9 

influences the root growth. As I said before I am 
in favor of that system which gets a tree on its own 
roots in the least possible time. ' ' 

If a whole seedling root is used it is evident that 
to get the point of union deep enough in the ground 
to make it reasonably safe to go through the winter 
without becoming diseased, the root graft must be 
planted from i ^ feet to 2 feet deep. No nurseryman 
will ever do this and if he did the tree digger when 
run under the trees before lifting would cut it off, 
say 15 inches below the surface, and this is deeper 
than these implements are usually run. 

Those who claim to propagate trees exclusively 
upon what they call "whole roots," in their argu- 
ments seek to leave the impression that in the north 
the short root and long cion is used solely for the 
purpose of economy. Nothing could be further 
from the truth, and the attempt to leave such an 
impression is not creditable. Seedling apples suita- 
able for grafting are usually worth about $3.00 per 
1,000 and the cions such as will make about two to 
three cuts are worth $1.00 to $2.00 per 1,000. The 
little difference in the value of the top and bottom 
of the graft will make it a small matter whether 
the splice is made a short distance further upward 
or downward. Even if a great part of the root is 
thrown away (which it is not) in the "whole root" 
system, the difference in the cost of the trees by 
the two systems, after two years could not be more 
than one-fifth of a cent. 

It will be noticed that without a single excep- 



20 THE NURSERY. 

tion all the authorities favoring the whole root sys- 
tem, who are practical propagators, are from the 
south or from the border states, while those taking 
the opposite view are almost as invariably from the 
north. Both sides are right and both are wrong. 
We will take the words of our southern brethren, 
they are supposed to know better what they want 
than we do, but they are wrong in condemning a 
different practice in the north, by which alone we 
can grow a thoroughly good and sound tree. 

Prof McAfee states that not more than ten seed- 
ling apple trees in lOO are hardy enough to go 
through a test winter uninjured, especially when 
young. This is my experience, or, I would say 
he has set the proportion of the hardy ones very 
much too high. Should we attempt to make a 
sound tree with one of these tender seedlings, how- 
ever hardy the cion we use might be, we should fail 
in the north, if we depended upon making the 
union at any point very near the ground surface. 
This has been demonstrated so many times that 
there is no longer a question left concerning it. By 
using a short section of root and a long cion, and 
setting the whole entirely in the ground, we make 
the union 5 to 6 inches under ground, where it is 
so protected as to generally go through the hardest 
winter uninjured, and serves its purpose until the 
tree gets ''upon its own roots," which it will always 
do in a few years, frequently making a fine strong 
system of its own the first seasoij , and nearly always 
by the second season. If I were propagating trees 



THE NURSERY. 21 

in the south probably I should adopt the so-called 
whole root system for southern orchards, as these 
propagators claim that such trees give better satis- 
faction there, but the proof is all wanting that such 
trees do better in the north, or give better satis- 
faction where thoroughly and intelligently tried. 
My own opinion, based upon several experiments is 
that such trees introduced into the North would be 
unsafe unless when replanted they were set very 
much deeper than grown in the nursery, even then 
the proof is all wanting to maintain the proposi- 
tion that such trees and only such, are natural, and 
make better or longer lived trees in the north than 
those propagated under our northern system. The 
fact that trees propagated in a certain manner lived 
longer in Massachusetts or Michigan than those 
differently propagated in Dakota, is not proof of 
anything, but is only an incident, and may be 
explained by a dozen different conditions as well as 
this one. 

When we carefully investigate this claim of 
superiority for the "whole root" system, and then 
learn that no claim is made that the whole root is 
really used, and only a very small proportion of it, 
there will be a suggestion of the good faith of the 
advocates. Why not call it by its right name 
which would be crown graft or collar graft ? 

Prof Burrill in speaking of this point in the seed- 
ling that is known as the collar says: "There is a 
name often heard in discussions upon our topics 
wliich calls for a moment's notice: What is the 



22 THE NURSERY. 

collar? The place of juncture of the stem and 
root. I say the name calls for attention. The thing 
signified need hardly take our time, because in a 
structural sense there is nothing of it. We have 
only stem or root according as we exactly locate 
the place. The collar is no organ, it is the junc- 
ture of by no means very dissimilar parts. There 
is no special vitality here, no peculia-^ seat of 
vitality nor of vulnerability. 

' ' The parts of a tree grown above ground exposed 
to the air have harder tissues, not because it is stem 
as opposed to root, but from condition of growth. 
The root tissues are softer only because kept con- 
tinually in the moist earth. Witness the hardened 
texture of the brace roots of Indian corn above the 
surface of the earth. 

" The collar therefore as most commonly located 
is simply the place of the stem or root coinciding 
with the level of the soil — this and nothing more. 

" Now let us see what the results are when two 
living parts are joined by grafting or budding. 
Practical men know that to succeed in these opera- 
tions the inner bark of these two pieces must be 
placed in contact. 

"In the case of root grafting in the winter this is 
not so critically imperative, because the callus 
spreads somewhat between the two pieces. But in 
any case what is absolutely essential is to secure the 
meeting of cells capable of growth on the one side, 
with those similarly conditioned upon the other side. 
The old wood does not in any sense whatever unite. 



THE NURSERY. 23 

** If an examination is carefully made, even years 
after the graft has successfully grown, the old cut 
surfaces in the heart of the structure will be found. 
* * * A cion is no more modified by the stock 
in essential character then one human being is 
changed in personal identity, and personal respon- 
sibility because of his association in business with 
another human being. The partnership may indeed 
be a profitable one for both parties and the two men 
may agree perfectly between themselves, and may 
each succeed better than he could have done alone, 
yet A remains A and B remains B. Just so 
with the stock and cion. While each keeps its 
own inherent qualities, the association may be 
mutually beneficial or harmful according as the 
activities of each suit those of the other, or the 
reverse. 

" In the matter of union between cwnsind stock 
there is another thing upon which a word is needed. 
The microscope may always detect the line of con- 
tact of the two, if there is any visible difference in the 
cellular structure; but neither the microscope nor 
any other instrument, or thing, except experience 
can inform us concerning the physiological union 
between two pieces joined by grafting. We all 
have seen swellings upon grafted or budded trees at 
or near the splice. These enlargements are much 
more common just above the place of union. They 
do not disappear with age, but remain as evident 
in a tree forty years old as at the end of the first 
season's growth. 



24 'THE NURSERY. 

' ' Such swellings indicate faulty physiological 
unions. The nutrient juices are impeded in their 
movement of distribution. The barrier is like a 
dam in a river above which the struggling waters 
press out in every direction. The amount of such 
trunk enlargement may be taken as the measure of 
inadaptability or of physical incongruity. * * * 

* ' First it must appear that the so-called collar 
means nothing. If there is any foundation for the 
claim made for grafting in the "collar" or "crown" 
it simply and only can be that it is better to graft 
into the stem instead of the root for as heretofore 
asserted the place popularly designated by these 
terms is only that part of the tree stem which hap- 
pens at the surface of the ground. 

"Secondly, it is a decided misnomer to speak 
about using 'whole roots.' This is indeed usually 
recognized, despite the common use of the term. 

' ' But few probably are aware how far from the 
truth the expression really is. 

' ' Ivook at these poorly grown one year old piece 
root grafted apple trees (exhibiting three specimens). 
They were dug from the end of a nursery row, 
without selection of any kind, but care taken to 
take up whole roots. The fine roots are over 
three feet long^ and the center one descended to 
that depth in the soil. Here again is a one year 
budded cherry. The stock is the red wild cherry. 
Here are roots four and a half feet long^ with a 
spread as they grew of about 6 feet, and a depth 
almost the total length. 



THE NURSERY. 25 

"We have seen that the only peculiarity in the 
structure of a root in the course of its length is 
at the very tip, with its wonderful provision for 
growth through hard soil. No one can pretend 
for a moment that this is preserved in the 
so-called whole root trees. If this is destroyed 
there does not appear to be any special difference 
whether i inch or i foot is removed, so far as 
manner of growth is concerned. 

"Here are a series of specimens of piece root 
grafts of six kinds of apples furnished me by Mr. 
Augustine. I asked for one year trees without 
telling him what was to be illustrated by them. 
All are well grown, but some are larger than 
others. Can any fault be found with the amount 
or direction of these roots ? 

' ' But fairness demands the mention that in the 
excellent samples shown by whole root advo- 
cates there is more evidence of the unhealthy 
swelling on the piece roots. 

' ' It would seem that a tree upon its own roots 
is ordinarily better than any combination can be, 
except when special result outside of the best 
good to the tree itself is desired. In other words 
when we propagate for fruit and not for apple 
trees. ' ' 

We have quoted thus largely from Prof. Burrill 
to give the best scientific and impartial views, 
and will only add that the specimens of piece 
root grafts shown were not selected, while those on 
the other side were with this special point in view. 



26 THK NURSERY. 

We still take some exceptions even to the excel- 
lent authority quoted. It is noteworthy that the 
Ben Davis is the most cosmopolitan in its habits 
upon other stocks, seldom showing the p^bint of 
union at three years old; still it is not noted for 
hardiness or longevity, while the Duchess and 
Haas make the poorest unions, and show the 
greatest enlargements, are very hardy and long lived. 

The Duchess does not show this enlargement to 
so great an extent as the Haas, but shows a cracked, 
rough condition, from which we get a flood of 
sprouts, showing a bad imion. For this reason we 
fully agree with him in his conclusion that the 
tree upon its oAvn roots is best, and the shorter the 
root and longer the cion, the sooner we shall 
accomplish this. If we coiild grow the trees from 
cuttings like currants, it would be still better. 

Dr. Warder says: ''If the young trees are earthed 
up in the nursery, and set rather deeply in the 
orchard, they will soon establish a good set of roots 
o{ their own, emitted above the junction of the 
cion and stock, which is very preferable to the 
imperfect iniion and consequent enlargement that 
often results from using uncongenial stocks.'' 

Again, one of the simplest methods of multiply- 
ing varieties consists of increasing and encouraging 
the suckers throwui up by the roots; these are sep- 
arated and set out for trees. We have been told by 
some physiologists that there was an absolute differ- 
ence in structure between the root and the stem, 
that thev could not be substituted the one for the 



THE NURSERY. 27 

Other; and yet the oft quoted marvel of the tree 
which was planted upside down, and which pro- 
duced flowers and leaves from its roots, is familiar 
to every one. 

Here, as in other cases, our teachers have led us 
into error, by attempting to trace analogy with 
animal anatomy and physiology, and by directing 
our attention to the circulation of plants,as though 
they, like animals, had a true arterial and venus 
current of circulating fluids. The cell circulation 
is a quite different affair, and can be conducted in 
either direction as every gardener knows who has 
ever layered a plant or set a cutting wrong side up. 
vSo with the roots they are but downward exten- 
sions of the stem; under ordinary circumstances 
they have no need for buds, but these may be and 
often are developed, when the necessity for thdr 
presence arises. 

Buds do exist on the roots — especially those near 
the surface — and from them freely spring suckers, 
which are as much a part of the parent tree as its 
branches, and may be planted with entire certainty 
of obtaining the same fruit, just as the twigs when 
used as cuttings, or cions when grafted, will pro- 
duce similar results. 

High manuring the nursery is objectionable, and 
a tree is better for having a moderate, and not an 
abnormal, growth. Such trees are much more apt 
to become discolored or black hearted than those 
having made a more moderate growth; they are 
also less liable to bark bursting in nursery. 



28 THE NURSERY. 

Planting root grafts. The ground should be 
plowed as deeply as practicable, if a foot it will be 
better. A subsoiler attached to the plow has been 
found to be of great value, as the young plants in 
such ground have not dried out like those on ground 
prepared in the ordinary way. There is no imple- 
ment better to follow the plow with than the 
planker or clod crusher. In plowing, the furrows 
are all thrown the same way, frequently called 
"carrying the lands." This leaves no dead fur- 
rows. The planking is kept close to the plowing, 
and the planters close to the planker, so that there 
may be moist earth at the top which prevents the 
earth from falling back as the dibble is withdrawn, 
and filling the hole. Many plant without dibbles, 
by throwing out a heavy furrow and planting in 
this and drawing the earth back with the hands, 
to hold the plant in position, which is thereafter 
filled by rake and hoes. This is as good as the 
dibble, but no better, and it is not thought that 
anything is gained in time. For the amateur a 
dibble may be made of wood. Cut the handle from 
an old spade, keeping a piece of the shank one foot 
long besides the hand part; sharpen it to a point, 
but not by a true taper; it should be narrowed 
faster near the point. Such dibbles will answer 
the purpose nearly as well as those made of steel. 

The ground being plowed and smoothed, throw 
a line across from north to south and stake it 
tightly and pull it straight. The grafts are carried 
by the planters in shallow vessels such as wash 



THE NURSERY. 29 

basins or common pans. The grafts will be set all 
the time on the same side of the line, and about 
two inches from it, the planters all being on that 
side the line. The hole is made with the dibble, 
and the graft carefully inserted, the greatest care 
being necessary not to break the joint. Set it to 
its top in the ground, holding it in this position 
with the left hand resting upon the ground, when 
the dibble is thrust down beside it, and very close 
to the first hole, which will, if done properly, firm 
the earth about the roots to the bottom. This 
work should not be entrusted to boys, it requires 
good judgment and mature intelligence to do the 
work correctly. Place them about 10 inches apart 
in the row, and the rows 4 feet -apart. Some 
leave one bud out of the ground, but it is not 
necessary when the ground is smooth, as it will 
soon settle so as to expose one or more of them. 

Keep them cultivated and clear of weeds, and it 
is not believed that late cultivating induces late 
growth. 

In the north there is great loss frequently in 
winterkilling the first winter, especially in the 
loess soils of the IMissouri valley. This was not 
the case in the black soils of the Mississippi side. 

There are many ways to prevent this. Some 
take them all up in the fall, cover or cellar them 
and plant out again in spring. This is advisa- 
ble where there is but a poor stand, as the ground 
will be better occupied. There is the objection to 
this, however, that the tree is retarded in growth. 



30 THE NURSERY. 

and may by reason of this delay make too late a 
growth the next year and be in condition to dam- 
age the second winter. If this does not occur, and 
the work is done carefully so as not to be a severe 
shock to the tree, there can be no objection to it. 
Another way is to lay them down and cover with 
earth. Three persons are required to do this fast; 
one goes ahead and presses them down with a 
spade or fork and two others follow and cover. It 
is said that three men will put down 10,000 in a 
day. 

Another plan is to cover the field with straw, 
hauling on something like ten loads to the acre. 
This is the plan we have pursued, but it is labor- 
ious and expensive. Another plan is to sow oats 
thickl}^ in the fall, soon after they are harvested, 
sowing about 6 bushels to the acre. Some use • 
buckwheat, which is better in fall as it grows taller, 
but does not make so good a mulch for winter as 
the oats. 

If we wish to make hardy long lived trees we 
must send them to the planters sound, and we can- 
not do that in this latitude, except in a very few 
varieties, without in some way protecting the trees 
the first and generally the second years. 

Should the trees prove to be discolored in the 
spring the tops should be cut off and a new tree 
grown from the sound wood below, as there is no 
way to cure a tree that has become discolored. This 
has been described in another chapter. 

It is of the utmost importance that the trees be 



THE NURSERY. • 3 1 

sent out sound, as has been said, and must be fully 
decided upon. A black hearted tree should not be 
sent from the nursery, and it is not necessary. By 
the practice here described we can know positively 
that the trees are sound, as well as if they were 
transparent. It is not so serious a matter if the 
tree should in its later growth, when established in 
orchard, become so in its shoots, as it will in most 
cases any way, but the trunk and larger limbs of 
the tree are its life, and these should be sound and 
strong to the heart. 

All nurserymen doing any considerable business 
will dig their trees with the tree plow or digger, as 
the work is done well and quickly. If to be dug 
with a spade great pains should be taken to get a 
good proportion of roots and not in a mangled and 
bruised condition. 

Do all the work in nursery at the right time If 
this is not done, in many cases the work is doubled, 
and is then not done properly. This is particularly 
true of keeping the small trees clean. The proper 
time to kill a weed is before it grows. 

If workmen go among them with hoes they 
should be instructed to be very careful not to 
scrape over the grafts, as it is liable to break them, 
or in any case greatly damage them. A pronged 
hoe that will straddle the tree is of use. We have 
had a common four-tined pitchfork straightened 
and the tines, about 3 inches from the end bent to 
a right angle or less, making it somewhat hooking, 
and found it a very good tool for this work. 



32 ' THE NURSERY. 

Where the tree digger has been run under the 
trees and the best grade only taken out, the ground 
which has been displaced and loosened should be 
immediately firmed again upon the roots. This is 
done by the use of a heavy one-horse roller between 
the rows, or it may be done by pressure from the 
foot if by a heavy man and the work well done. 

Evergreens may be root pruned in this way, 
which is nearly as good as once transplanting. It 
should be done just before the beginning of growth, 
or if the season is favorable it may be done just at 
the end of the growing season, as the roots will 
continue to grow nearly all summer while the tops 
are at rest. 



CHAPTER II. 

Hardiness of the Tree, and its Adapta- 
bility to Latitudes. 

WHEN we speak of the hardiness of a tree, we 
mean its ability to withstand all the vicissi- 
tudes of the climate where the tree is to be grown. 
Under certain conditions one tree will be hardy 
while under a changed condition in the same 
climate it will have all the characteristics of a 
tender variety. In the black loamy bottom soils 
of the Mississippi valley, even in the southern part 
of Iowa and Illinois, the Wagner is too tender 
for practical uses, while on the loess soils of the 
Missouri valley, and on the highest lands in 
northern Nebraska and Southern Dakota, it is 
among the hardiest. These black mucky soils are 
not adapted to apple growing in great variety. 
There is an element lacking in these soils necessary 
to the most perfect ripening and developing in the 
tree, those qualities which underlie hardiness. 
I am of opinion that there are at least 50 
varieties of the apple that, so far as intense cold 
is concerned, would thrive under other favorable 

conditions at least as far north as latitude 44°. I 

33 



34 HARDINESS OF THE TREE, 

believe that the peach could, under similar condi- 
tions, be successfully grown up to 41° and probably 
42°. The trouble is to compel or control these 
conditions. I have, during several winters, kept a 
careful record of the condition of my Russian 
apricot trees, and, while they were in tree perfectly 
hardy under any conditions of this climate, the fruit 
buds killed at about the same degree of cold that 
killed the peach buds. My conclusion was that 
the tree was an anomaly, being prepared for arctic 
winters in wood, but wearing tropic fruit buds. 
Nature does not make many anomalies, and this 
proved not to be one either. As the trees attained size 
and age this weakness disappeared, and the buds 
have for two winters endured lower than 30^ below, 
and then been followed by bountiful crops of very 
excellent fruit. Peaches have also been occasion- 
ally grown in this latitude, and in southern 
South Dakota, and it is a significant fact that these 
crops have not as a rule followed mild open 
winters, but more nearly the reverse. 

In considering this subject, I shall confine my- 
self mostly to that monarch of all fruits — the apple. 

Small fruits of great variety can be almost com- 
pelled to obey us. We can, if we cannot control 
the elements, so protect these luxuries as to ward 
off all harm from them. 

Cherries and plums afford us but little trouble. 
The pear is an enigma. When we have apples we 
have fruit enough. To take a common sense view 
we must conclude that when the tree has, during 



AND ITS ADAPTABILITY TO LATITUDES. 35 

the summer and fall, been favored with all the best 
conditions, those that the tree would if it could 
select for itself, such as just rainfall enough and not 
too much, proper cultivation, a season just long 
enough to thoroughly mature its every part, but not 
so late and warm as to induce a second growth. 
With these conditions, any tree, of whatever kind, 
would surely be in the best possible condition to 
resist the extremes of heat and cold through which 
it must pass before it can again fortify itself for 
another siege of winter war. Many of these condi- 
tions we can control or supply, and it is our duty 
if we expect to deserve success to control or supply 
them so far as is in our power, and is practicable. 
It is much the same with a tree as with a domestic 
animal. Some are more hardy than others, but 
none are quite capable of taking care of themselves 
in this climate without man's assistance, and who- 
soever plants a tree under the impression that he 
has performed his whole duty and has nothing 
further to do but to wait till it bears fruit and then 
gather it is only wasting his time and sowing the 
seeds of disappointment. 

Why will farmers and tree planters persist in this 
most blameworthy course? They give no such 
treatment to any other crop, nor to the care of 
their domestic animals. Surely a good, sound and 
productive orchard is very desirable, and among 
the most profitable acres of the entire farm. 

Happily the neglect of this industry is rapidly 
decreasing; but is still very much too prevalent. 



36 HARDINESS OF THE TREE, 

How often men say of a newly planted orchard: 
"My trees got awful weedy in the forepart of the 
summer, then it got so dry I didn't dare disturb 
the ground for fear of drying them out too much." 
Or, ''I thought it better to leave the weeds and grass 
to shade the ground and keep it moist. ' ' 

In place of this desired effect, exactly the oppo- 
site one is compelled. The weeds pump all the 
water from the soil, and the tree is stunted and 
cannot fortify itself to the best advantage, conse- 
quently will be liable to injury or death, that 
with proper cultivation would have been avoided. 
This most importart truth has been stated 
several times, and may be repeated hereafter. It 
cannot be too strongly impressed. We plant the 
trees for a purpose, and as we expect them to fill 
that purpose there is every reason why we should 
give them such care and attention as will enable 
them to do the best they can for themselves, but if 
we fail in these simple plain matters, which are 
so necessary, and the trees do not succeed we should 
blame ourselves, and not the trees nor the country. 

While it is true that the condition of a tree at 
the close of active growth in the fall is a potent 
factor in determining that which we call hardiness, 
it is also true that there are a number of certain 
varieties that have such inherent qualities as 
enable them to fortify themselves under unfavorable 
circumstances to resist the attack of the elements, 
and come through with a bright clean "bill of 
health." These we make a list of and call "hardy." 



AND ITvS ADAPTABILITY TO LATITUDES. 37 

It is the general impression among horticultur- 
ists that these varieties may be put put into two 
general classes, namely, those very finely organized 
apples, having the best quality, as the "tender" 
ones, while those of coarser organisms and poorer 
quality are generally the "hardy" ones. 

There may be, and doubtless is, some foundation 
for this classification, but no one is capable of 
drawing the lines that will exactly divide these two 
classes. There are so many variations from this 
rule that it is of little value. Of the first class we 
would cite the Michigan Swaar and the R. I, Green- 
ing; and of the second class the Duchess of Olden- 
burg, Wealthy, the crabs, and perhaps some of the 
Russian varieties. 

On the other hand we have practically hardy 
trees of excellent quality to destroy the absolute 
application of the rule, such as Grimes Golden, 
Iowa Blush, Yellow Bellflower, Am. Sum. Pear- 
main, Wagner and others. 

Another element which will figure largely in the 
determination of the character of hardiness of a 
tree should not be overlooked; that is the history 
of its removal from the nursery to the orchard. 
This may be properly called the crisis in the life 
history of a tree, especially an apple tree, and on 
the success of this operation will depend almost 
wholly the future usefulness of the tree. Not that 
this will, if successfully done, assure this usefulness, 
but if it is poorly done so that an unnecessary 
shock is given the subject from which it does not 



38 HARDINESS OF THE TREE, 

practically recover before the close of the growing 
season, the injury is irreparable. Under such a 
condition hardiness has little to do in restoring the 
tree to its normal condition. A Duchess of Olden- 
burg may be killed as easily by bad handling as a 
Baldwin. 

The relationship of latitude to climatic condi- 
tions which effect the vitality and longevity of a 
tree is a subject upon which there is great misap- 
prehension. Without investigation how many 
have not concluded that there is a perfect grada- 
tion of fruits and trees from wild cherries and plums 
of Baffins Bay to the orange groves of the Gulf. 
When we take so large a range of latitude as this 
there is such an apparent gradation, but there are in 
fact sectional exceptions. There are latitudes where 
for more than 100 miles this may be counter 
balanced, or even reversed by other causes. This 
has no reference to isothermal lines, these only 
mark the average temperature, and do not 
necessarily, nor do they generally, determine 
conditions upon which we may safely predicate our 
opinions of the adaptability of varieties to different 
latitudes. 

The average or mean temperature in certain 
lines or zones is recorded b}^ these isothermal lines, 
from data extending through longer or short peri- 
ods, sometimes embracing but a few certain 
months in a period of years, or they may be the 
record of the mean temperature for all the months. 
In either case they are of little value to us for our 



AND ITS ADAPTABILITY TO LATITUDES. 39 

purpose. Even if they recorded the lines of mini- 
mum temperatures across the country, they would 
then be evidence of this condition only and might 
not even approximate those larger conditions which 
govern the adaptability of varieties. We know it 
to be true that certain varieties of plums are tender 
in northeast Nebraska that are successfully grown 
much further north in South Dakota, and the same 
is true of varieties of apples that are tender or half 
hardy in central and southern Iowa that are success- 
fully grown in northern Nebraska. Some of these 
are Wolf River, Pewaukee, Northwestern Greening, 
Iowa Blush, Ben Davis, and others of about this 
class of hardiness. 

The larger conditions which control, or balance 
those of latitude, or even of minimum temperature, 
are many, such as soil, altitude, humidity (such as 
proximity to water, or rainfall) wind currents or 
maximum temperatures. These are general causes, 
and may, singly — or when combined to a still 
greater degree — move the fruit belt north to its 
advantage through two or more degrees of latitude. 

Then there are local causes in which the removal 
of the tree but a few miles may have a greater 
effect upon it than the removal of 100 miles under 
different conditions, such for instance as the 
removal from the south to the north side of the 
hill or from the top to the bottom of a bluff. 

The manner of pruning the tree, too, will exert 
much influence upon its hardiness; as in the case of 
the Wealthy, which is very close to the Duchess in 



40 HARDINESS OF THE TREE. 

this, which fails quicker than the Pewaukee, much 
tenderer, when pruned up to a high trunk unless 
artificial protection is given. The former is very 
sensitive to sun scalding the trunk, while the latter 
is less so but more liable to injury to its forks 

To sum up: First, latitude does not establish an 
inflexible law for our guidance in the selection of 
varieties, neither do the thermal conditions, but 
both are, or may be, overcome by other more 
important conditions. Second, as we can only 
control these conditions in part we should do this 
to the fullest extent, thus reducing the chances of 
loss to the minimum. 



CHAPTER III. 

Making the Orchard. 

IF we begin right and continue with such ordinary 
care and prudence as would be bestowed upon 
any other industry upon a farm for the first year or 
two, the orchard should, and generally will be, an 
established success. This beginning right, and 
keeping right, at the start, is all important. How- 
ever careful we may be, and however much work 
we may bestow upon it after the first year, 
failure is generally assured if the work was begun 
wrong. 

To make a good home orchard, one large enough 
and good enough to supply the entire wants of the 
family in fruits for every day in the year, is not a 
play spell. Before undertaking this, determine 
that you will in the first place buy your trees of 
some reliable nurseryman, who, if he does not live 
near you, has an established reputation for honesty, 
intelligence, and of being a thorough nursery- 
man. 

In these days nurseries spring up and grow into 
magnificent proportions at a distance, that are 
entirely unknown where they are located. Nursery- 
men too jump into notoriety at a bound, and are 



41 



42 MAKING THE ORCHARD. 

after a few months or a year's experience entirely 
confident and capable of giving the most explicit 
and positive information upon the most abstruse 
problems in horticulture. A little (or much if 
necessary) labor and investigation carefully applied 
before buying is time well spent, and will never be 
regretted. Deal only with those in whom you have 
confidence, and that confidence should be well 
rooted in your best and most impartial judgement. 

It is not safe as a rule to deal with "dealers". 
These are what the retail merchant is to the whole- 
saler. The nursery through which they obtain 
their stock may be of the best, but in giving this 
dealer, or one of his (the dealers) agents your order, 
you are not dealing with the proprietor of the 
nursery, he does not even have your name upon 
his books. If you are wronged and write him he 
will tell you (and justly too) that he merely sold 
the stock to the one you have named to him as his 
' 'agent' ' at wholesale, who in turn sold to you what 
was his own, and you have him alone to look to for 
your redress. 

In giving this advice concerning dealers, it is not 
intended to condemn them all, I have met those 
who were thoroughly honest and capable, fully as 
much so as the nursery, but as a rule the opposite 
is true, and the exceptions are rare. 

If a traveling salesman or agent really represents 
the nursery as an agent he will carry a certificate 
under seal from the nursery stating just what his 
powers and duties are. 



MAKING THE ORCHARD. 43 

There are swarms of so called ''agents" infesting 
every crook and corner of the land, who are not 
agents and whose only object in making a canvass 
is to make money, and whose only care is to buy 
stock that will deliver good, get their money and 
then seek new fields. 

The highwayman who robs you, or the sneak who 
burns your buildings or steal your horse, is a gentle- 
man to the slick tongued fraud, who, by plausible 
lying wins your confidence sufficiently to induce 
you to invest in something that, aside from robbing 
you of your money, steals your precious time for 
years and for all your time and care, for all the 
golden visions of a fruitful orchard, under the 
spreading trees of which you have so often in 
pleasureable anticipation seen your wife and chil- 
dren gathering the mellow fruit, he gives you only 
a sure legacy of disappointment and despair. 

This may not be always the case, indeed it is not, 
but those who read these pages will testify that it 
is the rule and not the exception. 

In considering all these problems, and hundreds 
of others not yet even named, underlying all 
of which is lack of knowledge on the part of the 
planter, and in a less degree on the part of many 
nurserymen, it has been suggested that the proper 
way to get an orchard and take the fewest chances 
of failure is to let the contract to an expert whose 
pay shall depend upon his success or his fulfilling 
his contract. This has been put in practice by but 
■few, and, financially at least, has in most cases been 



44 MAKING THE ORCHARD. 

iinsuccessful, but in some cases successful. So far 
as making a success of the orchards is concerned I 
know that in one case at least where the parties 
have planted nearly 2,000 orchards success has 
been phenomenal, even far beyond their expec- 
tation. The principle that the orchard maker should 
make the orchard the same as the wagon maker 
makes the wagon or the carpenter the house, is 
undoubtedly correct. The success above alluded 
to as well as the failure which has so often attended 
the old way is alone proof of this, if proof were 
needed. There are many, however, who have 
orchards more or less valuable who do not care to 
start again from the beginning, and many others 
who deem themselves competent to make the 
orchard unassisted. It is for the benefit of these as 
well as for the guide of all who are interested in 
fruit culture, that this book is made. 

Even if we should all adopt the system of mak- 
ing the orchard by the orchard maker, there would 
still remain great need on the part of the person for 
whom the orchard is making for concise, correct 
instruction through which alone he can intelligently 
and successfully second the efforts of the maker; 
for, practically, the maker is little more than a 
superintendent, and, in a great extent of business 
cannot visit each orchard very frequently. The 
interest of the owner will impel him to use all rea- 
sonable efforts to make a success, and practical 
knowledge will enable him to better apply those 
efforts. 



MAKING THE ORCHARD. 45 

The varieties and the age and form of the tree 
will be the first consideration. 

A chapter will be devoted to varieties, to which 
the reader is referred. It is generally better to plant 
a small or medium sized tree than a large one. A 
well grown two year old as grown in the north, or 
a good yearling from the south is a good size. Such 
a tree will be from 3 to 5 feet high. A very excel- 
lent tree, and one I would adopt as a model is made 
by cutting back the yearling to the ground before 
spring growth begins. Allow but a single stem to 
grow from this cleft. In the fall we have a straight 
stem supplied with leaves and buds its entire 
length frequently with spurs, and about the height 
above given. This tree if grown in the north 
should be taken up carefully in the fall after the 
wood is entirely ripe, and either properly buried or 
wintered in cellar. The latter is better if done cor- 
rectly. Such a tree goes to the orchard in the 
spring following with every part exactly as it was 
when lifted the previous fall. Its vitality is unim- 
paired, and such trees will usually make about the 
same growth, and ripen their wood the same as if 
they had not been transplanted. 

This tree might have been allowed to stand in 
the nursery row all winter without necessarily 
being diseased in the spring, but it could be no 
better nor stronger for its battle with the elements 
during a severe winter. Experiment has proved 
that such trees are much heavier in spring than 
those wintered in nursery row. Before the latter 



46 MAKING THE ORCHARD. 

can start in the spring they must through their 
shortened and lacerated roots gather up this waste 
caused by evaporation, thus delaying the early 
growth which is so necessary to early maturity. If 
a tree has to be removed in spring, in a high north- 
ern latitude I would delay the work till this waste 
had been repaired by its own full system of roots, 
or till there was evidence of activity in the swell- 
ing buds. 

The proper form of a tree is of the first import- 
ance. A model tree is one having a stem from 
bottom to top with side branches, always smaller 
than the main stem, taken out from it at proper dis- 
tances, and one which will allow the orchardist to 
convert into a very high or a very low headed tree 
as he sees fit without the cutting of large, or two 
year limbs. 

This form is my type of a tree ready for planting 
in the orchard; but after years this will be lost in a 
spreading top. The roots of the tree will also 
assume about the same form. 

Alow headed tree is of great importance, unless 
the orchardist has determined to protect the trunk 
of his trees until the top of this or of the next tree 
on the south will protect it from the rays of the sun 
and thus protect it from "sun scald," one of the 
most destructive of all the enemies of orcharding. 
This will be treated in the chapter on "Enemies of 
the Orchard." 

Trees of this form cannot always be obtained in 
the market, indeed very seldom. The nurseryman 



MAKING THE ORCHARD. 47 

is, like many other people, so vain as to think he 
must live and support his family as other folks do; 
and should he stock up with such a tree it would 
be called "brush" by his customers, and would, 
very likely, be left on his hands for the "brush 
pile." Warder says, ''By all means give the peo- 
ple what they want whether in form or variety, 
whether best or not. " This may be a good rule 
where customers are persistent, but try to educate 
customers to buy a low headed tree and a young 
one. 

The form that pleases the majority is one that is 
a model of a bearing tree. It must have a clean 
trunk of 3 to 4 feet and then merge into a "head." 
Such trees, unless planted leaning very heavily to 
the south, and even then protected from the sun in 
some way will be apt to lean heavily to the north 
and east in a few years and finally lose the bark 
on the south side from sun scald. 

SOIL AND LOCATION. 

There are some soils in which it might be almost 
impossible to make a good apple orchard. If the 
top or drift soil is underlaid at a depth of i to 3 
feet with a hard pan, such as will not let water 
through it either downwards or upwards, we should 
hesitate before trying to make an orchard there. 
In such locations the cottonwoods and other trees 
are short lived. 

If our land admitted of the choice, and we were 
making a small home orchard we would select a 



48 MAKING THE ORCHARD. 

moderately elevated piece, where the soil was of 
good natural fertility; not too abrupt, but suffi- 
ciently rolling to insure good drainage. The 
exposure might be in almost any direction, though 
a sharp southern exposure is usually condemned. I 
have, however, seen the Ben Davis in Madison 
county. Neb., which is considered only hardy 
enough for about thirty-eight to thirty-nine, at the 
age of twenty-two years, sound and bearing enor- 
mous crops, and on a steep south slope with a grove 
of cottonwoods on the north and in close proximity 
on the south. 

When we reflect that there are excellent orchards 
of many acres, hundreds and over, in all parts of 
the country, it is obvious that the different parts 
must present almost every exposure or slope, hence 
if we adopt any particular exposure as requisite to 
success we should have our large orchards consider- 
ably broken up in patches. 

It is easier to make an orchard in clayey loam 
than in sand, still in several of the northwestern 
states I have seen and made excellent orchards in 
drifting sands. In these cases it is necessary to plant 
deeply, 3 or 4 inches deeper than in clay. The 
Russets and the Duchess, Haas, and Iowa Blush, 
generally succeed in these light soils, and the 
cherries are especially at home in them. 

It is generally taught that the ground should be 
plowed very deeply. My experience in making 
orchards in the soils of western Iowa, northern 
Nebraska and South Dakota, has taught me that 



MAKING THE ORCHARD. 49 

this is entirely unnecessary, indeed some of our 
best orchards were made by planting in the virgin 
prairie sod, and which was not broken afterwards. 
In these cases the ground was subdued by heavy 
mulching. 

In poor or thin soil it is a great advantage to 
dig the holes considerably deeper than necessary 
for setting the tree, and then filling up in part with 
top soil. The holes need not be dug wider than is 
required to properly adjust all the roots without 
crowding. If the root grows at all it is equally 
strong and piercing when one day old as it will be 
in ten years, and if it can ever force itself through 
the hard ground it can do it the first year. 

For reasons given in our chapter on the nursery 
it will be well to plant the tree some deeper than 
it stood in the nursery. Say 3 inches in upland 
clay soil, and 5 to 6 in sand. 

If trees are procured the fall before planting and 
buried, before this is done the bruised ends of all 
roots should be cut off with a sharp knife, always 
cutting from the under side so that the cut surface 
shall be generally at a right angle to the stem of 
the tree. If this is done in the fall and the 
roots buried moderately deep, say i ^ to 2 feet 
it will be found that the tree has not been idle 
during the winter, but that there has been a 
nice callusing of all these cut surfaces which is 
the first stage of root making. In fact if preserved 
without tob much injury, this at once takes the 
place of, and performs the office of the roots, 



50 MAKING THE ORCHARD. 

absorbing the water and food from the soil in con- 
tact, and sending it up toward the buds. If this 
has been omitted in the fall, cut as directed before 
planting. It is also well to head the top back to 
some extent, especially if the roots appear to be 
short or poor; the poorer the roots the more the 
top should be cut back. It is never advisable to 
cut back so far as to remove two year old wood at 
planting. Should there be a limb of such wood 
that ought to come off, let it be till the next year. 
The tree will then have more vitality to withstand 
the surgical operation. This subject will also be 
further treated under the head of pruning. 

If trees are procured in the fall they should 
not be planted till spring except below 40° 
latitude. They should be carefully unpacked, 
the bundles cut apart and the trees buried in 
a slanting position that will cover the roots 
about 18 inches, while the tops are barely 
covered. If the tree is good and the work done 
right there will be no material loss. 

It matters not just what form is used in covering 
these trees, if we arrive at the same result, but 
there is a practice where a large number are to be 
buried that will save much work, and will be 
described. 

Ivct us suppose we have 100 or more trees, we 
will lay off a strip of ground about 4 feet wide, and 
as long as is necessary. We will suppose that the 
strip lays east and west (but it does not matter) 
and we stand spade in hand at the east end, facing 



MAKING THE ORCHARD. 5I 

the east. We will throw the earth from us — to the 
east — as we work gradually deeper, and to the west. 
When we have worked back about 3 or 4 feet we 
shall have quite a mound in front, and be down at 
the west end about one foot. From the top of the 
mound to the bottom of the trench will be 6 or 7 
feet, about the length of a tree. Now place in as 
many trees as will lay side by side with their roots 
down in the trench to the west, and the tops reach- 
ing about to the top of the mound. We continue 
digging just as we did at first, taking the t.."^th 
away from the roots and throwing it upon them, 
w^orking back say a foot or more, when we are 
ready to place in another layer, which is done, 
when we proceed as before till they are all in. At 
this time the trunks and roots will be nearly 
covered, and to complete the work w^e will go along 
the sides and throw earth upon the whole till the 
trees are all out of sight, root and branch. This 
will cover the roots deep enough and the tops but 
little. It is well to work the earth among the roots 
some, but no great pains need be taken, as the 
earth will generally in a short time settle around 
them. If the earth is not naturally moist it should 
be made so. 

In the spring take them out as they went in, that 
is the last in will be first out. Dig quite deeply at 
the end of the trench, so as to be sure that we are 
below all the roots, and take them out by lifting 
the tree bodily through the earth. Be quite sure 
to get the top layer, and that all the roots are free 



52 MAKING THE ORCHARD. 

or trees may, as they are frequently, split in 

two. 

To keep a record of varieties, lathes or other 
strips of board may be laid between them and a 
record of them kept in a book. This is necessary 
if we wish to preserve the record, as the labels will 
be faded out by spring. 

It is advisable to cut the roots, as has been 
directed, in the fall before covering, as many varie- 
ties will between this and spring nicely callus and 
some progress be made toward the next year's 
growth. 

By handling as above described any tree except 
evergreens can be wintered successfully, and there 
are many advantages in it. The trees are on the 
place and can be taken out and planted a few at a 
time as opportunity offers, and the work done care- 
fully and well, while if they are received in spring 
it may be in a very busy or very dry time, and the 
work not done so well on this account. 

Evergreens should never be ordered for fall 

delivery. 

The same is true of strawberries, and August 
planting gives no advantage beyond waiting till 
the next spring. 

Raspberries, blackberries, grapes, roses and many 
of the other flowering shrubs if received in the fall, 
may as well be planted out as covered in the trenches 
and handled again in the spring. The work should 
be well and carefully done, and then the plants 
liberally mulched before freezing weather. These 



MAKING THR ORCHARD. 53 

plants will do as well covered as the trees, but it 
adds to the labor of handling and is of no benefit. 

The same would be true of trees if we could give 
them the same protection that we do the smaller 
vines, etc. Fall planting is practiced in many 
places where the climate is more moist and equable. 
In the trying locations where many are making 
orchards, trees thus planted would not live till 
spring, and the practice should not be encouraged, 
as far nortli as southern Iowa and Nebraska. 

If trees could be taken up very carefully as 
early as October i, and immediately planted, with 
all the care recommended for spring planting, and 
the ground should be naturally moist, they would 
make a considerable root growth before winter, and 
such trees have been known to winter as well as 
though not removed, but the practice is not recom- 
mended. In such cases it is understood that all 
the leaves are stripped off before the tree is taken up. 

In planting the tree or adjusting the roots in the 
ground, it is only necessary to use good common 
sense. The roots must be thoroughly encased in 
the earth, which will generally require the use of 
the hand without a glove. With this any spaces 
not filled will be detected. If the soil is very dry, 
it will be well to put a pail of water in each hole 
and let it soak away before planting. If the top 
soil to be used in filling is also dry, moisten to 
make it as near natural as you can. 

In my opinion there are few worse practices than 
"puddling" trees in. Trees do not require to 



54 - MAKING 'THE ORCHARD. 

be soaked in order to grow, natural moisture is 
enough. 

The objection to this process of * 'puddling" is 
that in most soils the ground that is wet becomes 
a ball, or like a sun dried brick, it contracts when 
drying and cleaves away from the surrounding 
earth, thus breaking the connection, and the capil- 
lary attraction. Some soils will not do this, but 
it is unnecessary in any case, and objectionable in 
most cases. 

In this connection let me say that the plan of 
"watering the trees" after planting is of no avail 
whatever as commonly practiced, and not advisable 
in any case where good cultivation, or in its absence 
good thorough mulching, can be given. To pour a 
pail of water on the ground at the foot of a tree to 
water it is much like going upon the roof and pour- 
ing water there to water the houseplants inside. 
Even if a sag or trough is made to prevent the 
water from running away, a single pailful will do 
no good. It will soak in but a few inches and then 
when dry the ground is left hard and will crack and 
become a perfect chimney through which the mois- 
ture from below will be drawn up and thrown off. 

In case trees are to be planted where mulch or 
cultivating is undesirable, as in a lawn, watering 
will be generally necessary. Bore two holes down 
with a post auger about i8 inches from, and each 
side of the tree, as deep as the tree sets; fill these 
with coarse manure, hay or straw and fill occasion- 
ally with water during the summer. Notice closely, 



MAKING THE ORCHARD. 55 

and when there is a drooping or yellowish appear- 
ance of the leaves fill the holes again with water. 

LAYING OUT THE ORCHARD. 

If we plant all apples we would not plant nearer 
than 20 feet each way or which is better, and gives 
about the same number of trees to the acre, 14 by 
28, the short way north and south. 

The land having been plowed and planked or 
rolled smooth, if it is desired to have the trees 
exactly in line every way, and it ought to be, take a 
part of a check wire or other line that can be spaced 
off into the desired distances, mark them in some 
way so they will remain immovable, and throw the 
line straight across one end or side. A stake is 
driven firmly at each end, then other smaller 
stakes or pins about the size of the little finger 
and I to 2 feet long are stuck at each of these 
marks upon the wire or line. The line will then 
be swung around to make a right angle to the first 
line, when it will be thrown straight and staked as 
before, remembering to bring the same mark or 
" button " to the same corner stake. It is better 
now not to move the line to space off the third side, 
but to do it with a tape line or any measure, and 
put a guide pin at the distances, without regard to 
their general direction in the line, when the line is 
swept across the field it will correct this line. The 
line will then be moved to the next row as indi- 
cated by the pins, this row and the others will be 
treated the same, until all are finished. 



56 MAKING THE ORCHARD. 

The land being staked off it is now necessary by 
some appliance to put a tree at the exact spot indi- 
cated by each stake or pin. This is done with 
what is called a ' ' replace, ' ' and is very simple. 
Take a piece of board about 6 feet long by 4 to 6 
inches wide, cut a V shaped notch about i inch at 
the top, and about i inch deep in the center of the 
board on one edge, and two notches about the same 
size near the ends on the opposite edge, and the 
replace is made. Throw this down east and west 
with the center notch to the north, and the same 
side up every time ; let the center notch receive the 
pin where the tree is to set, now stick a stake in 
each of the two end notches, pull the center or tree 
pin, dig the hole, put the replace back over the 
two stakes just as it was, plant the tree leaning 
into the center notch and it must occupy the same 
place that the pin occupied. 

It is well to give the tree considerable inclina- 
tion to the south and slightly west, but this is not 
so important if the planter, as soon as he is through 
with planting will protect the trunk of the trees 
with something that will defend them from hot 
winds and sun. There is nothing better than corn- 
stalks for this protection, and no work that the tree 
planter can do from the time he starts till the 
orchard is bearing is of so much value as this small 
piece of labor; indeed it is one of the essential 
requisites of success. 

The work is not yet done, even if it is well 
done, so far as we have gone. These trees must 



MAKING THE ORCHARD. 57 

be cultivated thoroughly and often the first year. 
It is not enough to go in with a corn cultivator as 
near to the row as we can and leave the trees 
uncultivated. This is of very little good, but it is 
all very many young orchards get. Even if fol- 
lowed by the hoe it is still poorly done in most 
instances. If the weeds are cut off at the ground 
surface and the ground not thoroughly worked and 
kept mellow it will bake and dry up. There is a 
very large extent of country where not one year in 
ten is there sufficient rainfall to mature a crop of 
corn without resorting to artificial means to supply 
or retain moisture in the ground. Supposing that 
we carefully cut or pull every weed in our corn- 
fields but never introduce a cultivator ? Cultivat- 
ing answers a double purpose; it not only destroys 
the weeds which are great absorbers of moisture, 
but by breaking and disarranging the conformation 
of the soil it acts as a mulch and prevents for a 
time, the evaporation through an infinite number 
of infinitesimally small tubes. The more finely 
pulverized the soil the better the mulch, or, as it 
has been called " dust blanket." I have never yet 
seen it so dry in summer that I could not in a well 
kept field find earth moist enough to pack in my 
hand a few inches down. 

One of the best tools to handle an orchard with 
is a disc harrow, but if a small tree has been used 
it can generally be handled with the corn cultiva- 
tor by straddling it. This is one of the many 
advantao:es of a small tree. The second year such 



58 MAKING THE ORCHARD. 

careful cultivating is not as necessary, but at all 
times the tree must be kept in a good thrifty grow- 
ing condition, and not be allowed to be robbed of 
its food and water by weeds and grass. 

WIND BREAKS. 

Among the early settlers of the west there was as 
much a stereotyped plan of laying out the grounds for 
the buildings and orchard as there was a little later 
when ornamentals began to be thought about, and 
culminated in the two rows of evergreens running 
from the front door directly to the gate. This was 
not done probably for the purpose of insuring a 
snow blockade during the winter, but that visitors 
who should find the gate might be directed to 
the door; it does not seem to serve any other 
purpose. 

The wind break was generally in the shape of an 
L sometimes a perfect square. When in an ly, it was 
on the north and west of the buildings, but an area 
of from a fraction of an acre to one or two acres 
was left between the buildings and this grove for 
the orchard. It is not strange that so many of 
them were unsuccessful in such a location as it 
could not well be worse. Had the fruit trees been 
planted as soon as the forest trees (cottonwoods), 
they would have stood a better chance, but they 
must wait, as others did, till the wind break was 
up before risking the trees.. By this time the roots 
of the shelter trees had taken undisputed possession 
of the ground to be occupied by the orchard and 



MAKING THE ORCHARD. 59 

were thriving well on the substance that the fruit 
trees later would stand so much in need of. 

An artificial wind break of this kind is an excel- 
lent thing for the buildings, and it should embrace 
several acres, but for a protection to the orchard it is 
worse than useless. In a quiet warm day in late win- 
ter these groves reflect the sun's rays and if continued 
for some days will either start too early a growth 
which is soon to freeze up again, or the freezing and 
thawing of the bark kills it in patches and we have 
the next summer the evidence in the sloughing off 
of the bark on the sunny side, followed by decayed 
wood and a consequent swarm of borers which take 
possession and death soon follows. 

It is generally conceded now by practical orchard- 
ists that these wind breaks are detrimental for the 
fruit trees, but we are frequently asked what we are 
to do to prevent the fruit from blowing off. 

We answer by asking what prevents this m an 
orchard of several hundred acres in extent? Adams 
says that the best wind break is "another row of 
trees. " If it is determined to have this wind break 
why not make it of the Haas apple? It is a strong, 
very upright grower, is fully as limby as the cotton- 
wood, and will make timber for %el and many other 
purposes in value as fast as the cotton woods. A cord 
of this wood for fuel would be worth perhaps 
more than twice as much as the cottonwoods, and 
there would be the additional value of the fruit, 
for if well fed these trees will bear growing very 
thickly. 



6o MAKING THE ORCHARD. 

I have been surprised for some years to notice 
that apples growing on a high northwest slope, 
without a particle of protection, held their fruit 
better in a storm than others of similar varieties 
growing in the hollows, and in the shelter of build- 
ings. It does not surprise me now as it seems 
natural that it should be so. 

It is an axiom of the phytologist that the neces- 
sity for a certain condition will produce it. I 
believe this to be measurably true. Subject the 
stem of the young apple to the daily changing blasts 
from its infancy, and the stem will take a firmer 
hold of its twig, become larger and stronger. It 
seems to develop a sort of "vegetable instinct" 
which says "cling on or die." It is hard to imag- 
ine a wind break so secure that at no time can a 
blast reach it from some direction. When this 
time comes it finds the stem only prepared for fair 
weather and gentle breezes, and it yields to the 
ruder blast. 

NUMBER OF TREES OR PLANTS TO AN ACRE. 

To acertain how many trees or plants will grow 
on an acre of land at a given distance apart, first 
find how many square feet each tree will occupy, 
and the number of times that this will go in 43,560 
will give the number to the acre. 

To find the number of feet that each will occupy, 
multiply the distance from one tree to another by 
the same to another tree at right angles to it. For 
instance, they are to set 14x28, multiply these 



MAKING THE ORCHARD. 6l 

together — it is 392 feet — the space that each tree 
will occupy. This will go in 43,560 (the number 
of square feet in an acre), 1 1 1 times, which is the 
required number. Should the trees be set in equal 
squares, square the distance, as at 20 feet apart each 
tree will occupy 400 square feet, or 108 to the acre. 
If trees are planted in nursery rows 6 inches 
apart, and the rows 4 feet, each tree will cover 
2 feet, or 21,780 to the acre. 



CHAPTER IV. 

. Orchard Management. 

IT is supposed that up to this time we have only 
got the orchard thoroughly established, the trees 
are sound and making a growth of from one to two 
feet per year, in apple trees. The roots are well 
and deeply established and with a reasonable 
amount of cultivation or even mowing the weeds 
and allowing them to lie upon the ground, so far as 
the soil is concerned the trees will generally take 
care of themselves for a few years. 

If there are cherries and plums among them they 
will begin to bear at this time, say at about four to 
six years old; the apples will not commence for a 
few years more. Some varieties such as the Duchess, 
Wagner, Ben Davis, Iowa Blush and Yellow Trans- 
parent, will show the first fruit. 

The question is now most frequently asked "What 
shall we plant in the orchard ?" 

If the ground is strong, and the trees continue 
to make a rapid growth, the land is near market, and 
valuable for other crops, we may safely utilize it for 
any crops that will not bar you from cultivating or 
otherwise keeping the orchard in good growing con- 
dition. Never plant small grain in any orchard. 

68 



64 ORCHARD MANAGEMENT. 

The same of most grasses; red clover is an exception. 
There is the objection to this, however, that it is 
quite apt to invite the pocket gophers which are a 
great pest in an orchard. 

As a rule it is best not to try to raise anything 
in the orchard but the trees and fruit, unless we 
take advantage of the orchard to grow such plants 
as cannot be well grown elsewhere. This is applic- 
able to the raspberry. This fruit is quite apt to 
be tender in more open and exposed positions. If 
the trees are 20 feet apart, two rows of them 
can be grown between each row while the trees are 
from six to eight years old, and as they get older, 
grow only one. This is done with great success in 
localities where the raspberry cannot be practically 
grown in any other way without winter covering. 

Level cultivation is at all times better for the 
orchard. I cannot conceive of a necessity in a 
properly cared for orchard of ever introducing the 
stirring plow, except for ridging up in low flat land. 

There are many enemies to the orchard such as 
insects, etc., which must be watched. These ene- 
mies will be treated in a separate chapter on ene- 
mies of the orchard. 

FEEDING. 

Intimately connected with the space that is to 
be given to each tree or the number of trees to the 
acre, is the subject of feeding the trees. We can 
not expect to ' 'get something for nothing." We will 
again compare a tree to animals, this time horses 



ORCHARD MANAGEMENT. 65 

on the picket ropes. They are picketed at equal 
distances from each other; they commence to eat 
at the stake, and as the food is exhausted the rope 
unwinds giving additional food as required; but 
there will come a time when lengthening the ropes 
will not supply more food as they will come to the 
territory once fed over by the adjoining horses. 
This means starvation or a very meager supply of 
food and a very poor existence. There are two 
ways to remedy or prevent this: (i) by picketing 
them so far apart that before they reach each others 
territory a plentiful supply will have again grown 
where once fed over, or (2) leave them as they are 
and carry feed to them. The latter is the best and 
most economical way. 

A tree just as surely feeds the ground over as a 
horse does and as closely; not one little particle is 
allowed to escape; but nature is very recuperative 
and will do her best by dissolving for the use of the 
tree as fast as she can, such elements in the soil as 
were not palatable the first time, and in course of 
time the ground will supply it a second crop of 
food, but at best it is only "the second table.'* 

As soon as the trees come into heavy bearing the 
ground should have a top dressing of stable manure, 
ashes, or any of the phosphates if the ashes or 
stable manure cannot be had in sufficient quanti- 
ties. Ashes and all alkalies are valuable to soils as 
solvents. They reduce the indigestible particles to 
a condition in which they may be utilized by the 
tree. Thus these alkalies applied to the soil for 



66 ORCHARD MANAGEMENT. 

any great length of time without other food ele- 
ments would have less efifect. 

I am of opinion that the habit of ' 'off years' ' or 
bearing only alternate years can in a great measure 
be broken up by a careful system of feeding or fer- 
tilizing. 

THINNING OUT SURPLUS FRUIT. 

Do not allow the trees to overbear. It is extremely 
injudicious. After the fruit is large enough to sat- 
isfy you what is firmly established, or when the size 
of a hickory nut, look at the burden and try to 
imagine that each is a full sized specimen. If the 
fruit would not in this size be more than an ordin- 
ary crop all right, but if it would be a heavy crop 
such as would require the propping up of the tree 
pick off a part of them. Do not be afraid that you 
are wasting your fruit; in very many cases if half 
the fruit, even, is picked, that which remains will 
measure as many bushels, but of much better and 
handsomer fruit. 

In this way the tree has been relieved of nearly 
half its burden; for the great strain upon the vital- 
ity of the tree is not in maturing the pulp of the 
fruit, but in maturing the seeds. 

It is a matter of record that the greatest injury 
has generally been done to apple trees the winter 
following the production of their heaviest crops. 

It is obvious that the better condition a tree is in, 
in the fall, the more vitality it has stored up, the 
better it will resist the rough usage of the winter. 



ORCHARD MANAGEMENT. 6/ 

In regard to off years, it has been asserted that 
this habit could in a measure be broken up by 
proper feeding. The probable reason that trees do 
not as a rule bear every year is that they cannot, 
on account of exhausted vitality from the last year's 
production. This granted it is evident that what- 
ever will assist in maintaining this vitality will 
assist the tree to produce fruit buds — which are 
formed in mid-summer — and to develop them into 
fruit the coming spring. The two things which will 
do most to so aid the tree are, proper feeding, 
and thinning out fruit before the seeds have 
developed. 

Judgment must be used in applying stable manure 
or it may do more harm than good. It should be 
applied only to the surface and no attempt made to 
plow it under. Neither should it be so thick as to 
burn or to "fire fang," and should not be placed 
against the trees, nor in contact with the roots. If 
piled against the trees, roots are apt to be induced 
to grow directly under it and in almost every 
instance will be warty and covered with fungus 
growth. 

Gathering fruit for market. The price will in 
all cases be determined by the excellence of the 
fruit, and the appearance it presents to the eye of 
the purchaser. It is poor economy to try to send 
out more baskets and to do so be compelled to 
use a poorer quality. Fruit should be carefully 
handled to prevent bruising, and then put up in 
the neatest cases. 



68 ORCHARD MANAGEMENT. 

Summer and fall apples should be gathered 
before quite ripe as they bruise less, and keep better. 
Winter apples, whether for the market or home con- 
sumption, in order to get their best results as keepers 
should be gathered early. The practice among 
those who only grow for home use is to allow the 
fruit to remain on the trees about as long as it can 
without freezing. Such fruit will not keep, even 
when otherwise long keepers. 

Grapes of many kinds can be kept several months 
after ripening by placing them on shallow shelves 
in a cool cellar, so arranging them that the bunches 
do not touch each other. Some pack them in shal- 
low boxes filled with perfectly dry, coarse sawdust. 
When taken out for use the sawdust that adheres is 
removed by dipping them in water. 

Canned fruits. Whether or not we can grow 
sufficient quantities of winter apples for the season, 
we can always have small fruits by the easy and 
cheap method of canning. This art is understood 
by all the housewives. 

Cherries are improved if about one-fifth of the 
amount of fruit is put up without removing the pits. 

Currants are improved by adding nearly one-half 
mulberries. 

All fruits will keep as well if cooked in a kettle 
and dipped from this into the cans, the only objection 
to this being that the fruit is more broken and does 
not look as well. 

There will be no danger of breaking the cans if 
a towel is wrung from cold water and pressed 



ORCHARD MANAGEMENT. 69 

tightly around the can, being sure that all parts of 
the can, especially the bottom, are in contact with 
the wet towel. 

It is immaterial whether sugar is or is not used 
at the time of canning. It keeps as well in either 
case, and the flavor is not changed. 

PRESERVING FRUITS FOR EXHIBITION. 

Prof. Hilgard discusses the requisites of the ideal 
material for preserving fruits for fairs and other 
exhibitions. He says such preservatives should 
prevent fermentation, must be liquid, must not 
extract color, and must not change the size of the 
fruits, causing them either to swell or shrivel 

In order to retain the size, the best means of 
increasing the density of the fluid, and as a guide 
to the proper quantity to add, the percentages of 
of soluble matter (glycerine) to total weight are 
given: Apples and pears, 12 per cent; plums, 
prunes, apricots, peaches, about 10 per cent; cher- 
ries, 12 percent; most berries, 8 percent; currants, 
10 per cent; that is to any preservative fluid having 
about the density of water, add 1 2 per cent of gly- 
cerine for apples, etc. 

Several preservative fluids are discussed but only 
two appear to meet with the requirements: (i) a 
solution of one ounce of salicylic acid to five gal- 
lons of water, to which as much glycerine has been 
added as per above schedule. This constitutes a pre- 
servative fluid that has been used with success on all 
fruits. There has been some difiiculty experienced 



70 ORCHARD MANAGEMEN'T. 

in dissolving this acid in water, and various alkalies 
have been added but these are not necessary, as it 
dissolves readily in boiling water. When first dis- 
solved the water turns bright pink, but when cool 
it returns to a nearly colorless liquid. Fruit should 
not be introduced while liquid is hot. 

Corosive sublimate in the proportion of ^ 
ounce to i gallon of water is used in Italy success- 
fully, but as it is a deadly poison while the salicylic 
acid is not, and is equally as good the Italian 
method need not be used. 



CHAPTER V. 

Pruning in General. 

IT is within my recollection that the subject of 
bleeding in the human family was discussed 
something as pruning is now. It never occurred 
to them that habitual bleeding was unnecessary; it 
was only a question of proper times and methods. 
Every season and every variety of torture in this line 
had its advocates; and, as it is now all clearly attrib- 
uted to want of knowledge, such a condition (ignor- 
ance) has in all ages made its possessors very firm 
in their beliefs. There was the lancet, the phlegm, 
the cups, and even the filthy worm called the leech 
was invited to the feast, and, in contact with the 
bare arm filled up with the blood of the poor dupe 
of ignorance. This practice was so common that 
the physician was commonly called a ''leech". It 
is now almost entirely discontinued. The physician 
of to-day rarely takes the blood away from his 
patient; but rather studies to add to it. Neverthe- 
less, there may be, and doubtless are times when 
bleeding is advisable, even necessary. It is no 
longer, however, trusted to the barber (who form- 
erly performed it in many cases) but to the skillful 

physician, who can give a good reason for doing it. 

71 



72 PRUNING IN GENERAL. 

The same is nearly true with the art of pruning. 
To insist that every tree must at certain times be 
subjected to a surgical operation is to doubt the 
wisdom of the Great Creator. 

In California there are trees more than 30 
feet in diameter, and hundreds of feet high. In all 
parts of the world, where conditions have been 
favorable, great trees and woods grew long before 
the advent of man. Indeed, man in his earlier, and 
even more recent, conduct has acquired the name 
of the great tree spoiler. How did these immense 
woods and trees succeed so v/ell without the assist- 
ance of man to do the pruning? How does the 
natural wild grape, the wild cherry, plum, etc., 
succeed in growing such loads of fruit without care 
or assistance from the great intelligence of man? 

The forests will show us straight trunks without 
limbs or blemish for 40 feet or more, yet there was 
a time when these giants were but a few feet in 
height, with limbs to the bottom, such as you have 
seen upon the lawn. Where have these branches 
gone ? They have been shaded to death. Nature 
is extravagant in the use of seeds. She sows hun- 
dreds where one can make a full sized specimen, 
yet those that make a beginning are often of great 
benefit in assisting others to attain that size. The 
young plants come up thickly under the parent 
tree, whose shade and protection they receive, as 
well as that afforded by each other. Ivight is a 
great stimulant of vegetable growth, and without 
it the lower limbs die, and finally drop off, while 



PRUNING IN GENERAL. 73 

the tree is still reaching upward for light. The 
weaker ones fail in the race for light, and the 
fittest only survive. The annual layers of wood 
soon cover the wounds, or knots, and we have the 
first conditions for ''clear lumber." 

There is a communication through the bark of 
the tree with the atmosphere, as there is through 
the skin of an animal, measurably, and in order to 
maintain this mechanism in a healthy condition it 
seems that nature requires it to be kept in the 
shade, wholly or partially, and she will provide for 
herself just right if left to her own will. 

There is not an exact similarity between the 
growth of the natural forest and the growth of the 
orchard, or isolated trees; yet the principle is the 
same underlying the production of each ; and it is 
this that we are trying to study. We raise the 
orchard from the start artificially ; and when we leave 
nature and pursue art in this manner we shall be 
compelled to follow art in a measure ; but we should 
keep as close to nature as possible and practicable. 

Trees in the forest grow closely; they not only 
protect each other, but each specimen is supplied 
with a means of protecting itself, should it become 
isolated. The stronger outgrow the weaker, which 
thus being robbed of light are "shaded to death." 
The same process continues as long as there are any 
weak ones, and only ' ' the fittest ' ' survive. 

This same shading process is nature's manner of 
pruning. As the trees attain size, and each is 
reaching up for the light, the upper branches be- 



74 PRUNING IN GENERAL. 

come close, and so in a measure exclude the light. 
This is fatal to the lowest limbs; those which but 
a few years before were so green and healthy begin 
to shed their foliage, and finally, slowly, after the 
principal growth has been diverted from these 
branches they die, dry up, and in a few years drop 
off, and yearly deposits of wood cover the place be- 
yond recognition. This process continues so long 
as the trees are growing in height. 

The means referred to by wdiicli an isolated tree 
may measurably provide for its skin the needed 
protection, is the natural low growing of the first 
branches. Even before branches are produced 
nature is sure to provide this protection, and she 
does it with a screen of leaves during the first sum- 
mer, and provides at the base of each leaf stem a 
bud or embryo branch to be developed for the next 
year's protection of the same parts. These are 
there for a purpose or they ivould not be there; then 
why should we, as soon as these buds are partly 
developed the next spring, go and strip them off? 
This is commonly done, and the tree denuded of 
these most important buds for about 2 to 3 
feet in height. The purpose is to fonn the '* trunk " 
and have it smooth, showing no knife marks, or as 
the ' ' agent ' ' will tell us ' ' all glove pruned. ' ' 

As these trees stand in the nurser)' row, and as 
all of these rows run north and south (or should do 
so) the damage is not as serious as it would be to 
an isolated tree; still, I hold the practice as pernic- 
ious and avoidable. 



PRUNING IN GENERAL. 75 

Dr. Warder says, "The growth during the first 
year is generally a single shoot, sometimes two, 
but if there be a second it should be subordinated 
by pinching off its extremity, never by cutting it 
off, indeed, laterals should always be encouraged, 
and this will be more and more the case since the 
demand for low headed trees is increasing, as the 
laws of physiology are better understood. A young 
tree better furnished with laterals, is always more 
stocky, and ever}^ way better though not so tall as 
that which has been drawn up to a single stem. To 
encourage this, some advise pinching off the term- 
inal bud in the midst of the growing season, which 
will cause the swelling and consequently breaking 
of the lower buds, so as to furnish plenty of lateral. 
If done later in the season,^ especially in the strong 
growing varieties, a branching head may be formed 
higher up, during the first season, making very 
pretty trees. This plan of making stocky trees 
cannot be too highly recommended, and the oppo- 
site plan of trimming off all the side branches, and 
even of stripping the leaves from the lower parts of 
the shoots during the first summer cannot be too 
severely condemned. ' ' 

I have not seen the stripping of leaves during 
the first summer referred to practiced in the west, 
however, it is very common to do this the second 
season, as soon as these lower buds burst, which 
is not less harmful. 

Is it not time for a concert of action among the 
nurserymen to educate the planters who gener- 



76 PRUNING IN GENERAL. 

ally depend upon them for such trees as they 
should plant, and are governed by their recom- 
mendations ? Does he choose a large high headed 
tree for himself and for his own orchards ? Rarely. 
He will, if he can, use a low headed stocky tree, 
not over two years old, such a tree as Warder, 
Thomas, Downing, Lyon, Budd, and other of our 
specialists have uniformly recommended. Such a 
tree is good enough for any one to plant. There is 
every reason why such trees should be used and no 
good reason why not. 

If these trees are grown as far south as central 
Kansas a good yearling will be about 3 to 4 or 
even 5 feet high. If in latitude 41 or higher, only 
about 2 feet with an average of about 18 
inches. It would probably not be advisable to cut 
one of the former to the ground the spring of the 
second season, and would not be necessary, as such 
a tree when fully appreciated would be found to 
give the best satisfaction. In the north, however, 
there is no reason why the tree should not be 
allowed to remain in the nursery one more year. 
It will be then but little larger than a good Kansas 
yearling. In this case the yearling must either be 
laid down and covered during the first winter or pro- 
tected in some other way from becoming discolored 
or "black hearted;" or we may let it stand, and 
depend upon eliminating this trouble by cutting it 
off at the ground surface, as has been described in 
chapter three. 

Notwithstanding the fact that all the authorities 



PRUNING IN GENERAL. 77 

recommend the small tree; still the *' trade" de- 
mands a tree three years old or older and about 5 to 
7 feet high. This, without generally trying to influ- 
ence the demand, is the tree that the nurseryman has 
by long habit become rooted to. If the nurseryman 
will try to educate the trade to accept these large 
one year, or the two-year olds as described, he will 
find no inconvenience in packing and handling 
such trees, and by instructing the planter that these 
low growing branches or the dormant buds nearly to 
the ground are his very best friends, and should be 
protected and preserved, he will have overcome one 
of the greatest obstacles to successful apple culture. 

In opening the book to this chapter, if the reader 
has expected to be told in the old stereotyped way 
just " how and when to prune," he will be disap- 
pointed. It shall rather be my aim to instruct him 
how not to prune. 

While it is true, as has already been observed, 
that pruning is sometimes necessary (and this will 
be considered later), it is, in my opinion, an 
unquestionable fact that pruning, or over-pruning, 
is one of the principle causes of failure where it 
occurs. If we plant out an orchard of properly 
grown trees we shall generally make more mis- 
takes in pruning than we shall to avoid it alto- 
gether, which is not advisable. 

Improper pruning is one of the causes of what is 
called "black heart." This is especially the case 
if it is done in the winter when trees are frozen. 
This should never be done. 



78 PRUNING IN GENERAL. 

If we look at a natural tree the first year of its 
growth, we shall notice that the buds, or embryo 
branches, are quite close together, sometimes but 
little over an inch apart. We are now told that it 
is necessar}' to remove these branches in part, when 
they develop, as, when they have become large, 
there will not be room for them all. This is true, 
there would not be space in a single inch for a 4 oi 
5 inch limb; but let us not jump at the conclusion 
that they will ever become such size. Nature will 
not crowd two substances into the same space at the 
same time. One of these will be strangled by 
nature's own pruning process, dry up and die. 

It is sometimes the case that two or more limbs 
will grow too close together, and so even in size 
and growth that it becomes appprent that one 
should be removed. Do this at any time when 
not frozen. Observe carefully and you will see a 
small ring or ' ' collar ' ' near the base of the limb 
to be removed; cut the limb or shoot off just above 
this but not so close as to injure it. The cut 
will be, if this is followed, nearly at right angles 
to the limb removed. 

It is well, and cannot be too strongly recom- 
mended, to follow this and all pruning with the 
paint brush. Paint over the wound to exclude the 
air. By this means black heart or discoloration, 
which means the first stage of decay, is prevented. 
This may not be at all times necessary, but it is a 
small matter and should never be neglected. The 
paint should be moderately thick, thicker than 



PRUNING IN GENERAL. 79 

would be used by the painter, to prevent its run- 
ning down upon the trunk of the tree. Grafting 
wax, varnish, or anything that will seal the wound 
from the air will do as well. Gum shellac cut in 
alcohol is an excellent preparation for this. 

When at planting there has been a heavy cut- 
ting back of the tree, which is advisable, we have 
introduced a manner of pruning from almost neces- 
sity which, like all other pruning, is liable to lead 
to trouble later on. At the ends or stubs, where 
the limbs have been removed, there is likely to be 
an unnaturally close growth, several branches 
starting from this point; here judgment must be 
used, and, if too many, thin them out as soon as 
they start. If a branch is to be cut off, the earlier 
it is done the better, while it is small. 

Some varieties will need much closer attention 
in this matter than others. The Duchess of Olden- 
burg, Wealthy, Walbridge, Tallman St., Limber 
Twig and others make an open top, while the 
Ben Davis, Iowa Blush, Jonathan, Northern 
Spy, etc., are more apt to make a close top. 
The Willow Twig is at times, unless closely 
watched, apt to make poor forks, such as do not 
'^ weld together" at their union with the trunk or 
other branches. These will not sustain any great 
strain, either from, weight of fruit or the wrenching 
of storms. Cut out the one that is the weaker, as 
soon as it first develops this weakness. 

A perfectly natural tree will not lean, as a rule, 
to the northeast ; while one with the lower limbs 



8o PRUNING IN GENERAI.. 

cut away or the lower buds stripped off, will 
invariably do so, unless artificial means are taken 
to prevent it. This leaning away from the sun is 
a very serious matter in making the orchard, and 
such trees are the first to "sun scald" on the 
sunny side. Being inclined they offer their trunks 
at almost a right angle to the sun's rays, and it 
has, of course, a greater power than if they struck 
the tree at an acute angle. This mischief again 
intensifies itself, as the condition here is unfavor- 
able to the best growth, the growth being driven 
to the other sides of the trunk, this side becomes 
partially flattened, and thus offers a still better 
target to the fiery archer. If we cut one of these 
high-trimmed trees across, midway between the 
ground and first branches, we shall see exactly 
what has been described above. The bark will 
be thicker on the south, showing that nature has 
made an effort to shield this spot, and also that the 
heart of the trees is not in the center, but much 
nearer the south side, or, which is the same, that 
the growth has been much larger on the side 
furthest from the sun. The same Great Power 
that made the sun made the tree too, and the tree 
is entirely dependent upon the sun for its existence. 
It seems entirely unreasonable to suppose that the 
friendly sun becomes the great enemy of the tree, 
and that it is necessary, or natural, that it should be 
the cause of the destruction of them by the thou- 
sands. There is no such inharmony in the great 
labyrinths of nature. The trouble is: God made 



PRUNING IN GENERAL. 8l 

the sun and man made — or tried to — the tree; and 
the man's tree does not fit the sun; and as there is 
little hope of reforming the latter, it is best to fol- 
low nature and make a tree that zvill fit the sun. 

Compare the bottom and top diameter in a natur- 
ally grown tree with the same in an artificial one, 
where the stem is drawn up to 4 or 5 feet. Two 
such trees of the same age just measured give the 
following: The former, bottom diameter, 7 inches; 
top (3 feet above), 3 inches. The latter, bottom, 
5 inches, and top, same height, 4^ inches. 

It will be readily seen that the cause of this mal- 
formation is in part the action of the sun upon the 
trunk, and partly the loss of the greater amount of 
sap or plant food descending from the leaves of the 
lower branches, which builds up the trunk in pro- 
portion to the leaf surface supplied above them. 

In a conversation with the venerable T. T. 
Lyon, of Michigan, he said, " I would not plant 
a tree with over a foot of trunk. I never yet saw a 
borer in a tree where the trunk was shaded." This 
is from a man of fifty years' experience as a prac- 
tical horticulturist, and in a state where we are 
apt to think there is no trouble to contend with as 
there is in the dry, bleak northwest. 

To conclude, let us ''sum up:" (i) Let us not 
fall into the habit of thinking that pruning is in 
all cases necessary. (2) Study to avoid rather than 
to find an excuse for it. (3) When the best judg- 
ment advises it, cut as above described to the ring or 
collar, cut when small, and follow with the paint 



82 PRUNING IN GENERAL. 

brush. (4) Never prune while the tree is frozen. 
(5) All pruning is a shock to the tree and reduces 
its vitality. (6) Thinning out the tops of trees " to 
let the sun in " is injudicious, unnatural, and con- 
sequently unnecessary. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Cross-PoUenizing the FlowerSc 

IF it had not been for the wise provision of an All 
Wise Creator, the almost countless varieties of 
plants and trees would not have existed but would 
have remained each one producing after its kind as 
they were created. The only apple we would have 
would.be the wild one or crab of ancient Briton, 
Europe or Asia; in size more like a berry than an 
apple of the present day. In plums we should be 
confined to the wild Sloe of Europe, unfit for the 
food of man or beast, etc. 

It is said ' 'Nature abhors self-fertilization." It 
is a theory and probably correct, that if we could 
suppose the existence of a tree having had no cross- 
fertilization in its ancestry, could be so isolated 
that it could never come in contact with any pollen 
but its own, if it produced fruit at all its seeds 
would — if it had seeds — reproduce perpetually ex- 
actly after the parent. If there were no provision 
for fertilizing in any other way, there could be no 
change, and consequently no improvement in vari- 
eties. This crossing is, like budding or grafting, - 
confined within certain limits, generally to the same 
species. As these are generally in blossom nearly 

83 



84 CROSS-POLLENIZING THE FLOWERS. 

at the same time the pollen is by the wind or insects 
carried to the flowers of other trees. The result is 
the production of fruit with seeds related to both 
parents, and so mixed and commingled that each 
will have different characteristics, some producing 
trees which are better, but generally those that are 
inferior to either parent. It is in the selection of 
these children that we have gained the excellent 
varieties of our fruits and vegetables. 

The above supposes that nature has alone been 
the agent of this cross-fertilization. Art has taken 
the hint from her, and pursues a course suggested 
by the known laws of vegetable life. 

In a work of this kind it is only necessar}^ to treat 
upon this from a practical standpoint. The lesson 
to be drawn from it will be obvious. Mr. Wait, 
of the U. S. Pomological department says: "The 
factors affecting the production of flowers, are vari- 
ety, age of tree, and vegetable condition, which is 
influenced by the soil, culture, climate and pruning. 
The factors affecting the setting of fruits are frost, 
insect injuries, and sterility of pollen. Thus, 
Bartlett and some other varieties of pears do not set 
fruit when protected from the pollen of other trees. 
Experiments were tried by fertilizing Bartlett with 
Bartlett, but in no case did any fruit set. When 
fertilized with Anjou and Clapp's favorite, good 
results were obtained. Some pears will fertilize 
themselves, but two thirds are self-sterile. Fruits 
produced by self-pollenation are quite different from 
those produced by cross-fertilization. The crosses 



CROSS-POLLENIZING THE FLOWERS. 85 

of Duchess (pear) are much rougher and larger at 
the blossom end. Even a greater difference is found 
on internal examination. Self-fertilized fruit had 
none or very few seeds, while others crossed, had a 
large number of them. 

"The result with apples was not so great as with 
pears, for no Variety was found that would self- 
fertilize to any extent. Cross-fertilizing with more 
than one-half the varieties of pears and apples is 
essential to successful fruiting. 

"The chief agencies of fertilizing are insects, and 
the honey-bee is best of them all." 

It will be seen that it is not best to plant large 
areas of fruit of one kind; they should be mixed. 
Where such orchards exist already other varieties 
can be introduced by top grafting. In selecting a 
variety to use for this fertilizing, use one that 
ripens at about the same time and produces its blos- 
soms at the same time. Supposing the trees are all 
Ben Davis, and we should top work with Rawls 
Janet, there would be no gain as the blossoms of the 
former would be all gone before the advent of the 
latter. Use the Winesap and you will accomplish 
the end desired. 

Some of our readers may wish to experiment in 
this cross-fertilization. It is one of the most inter- 
esting of all experiments, and easily accomplished. 
The object to be obtained is the producing of new 
and valuable varieties. The pathology of the exper- 
iments is generally based upon the use of two par- 
ents having in themselves excellent qualities, but 



86 CROSS-POLLEN IZING THE FLOWERS. 

which have other qualities that condemn them. 
For instance the Grimes Golden is in quality unsur- 
passed, but it has a tendency to drop its fruit before 
ripe and is not hardy in all localities. Suppose we 
cross this with the Wealthy or Duchess. It will 
be with the hope of either adding to the keeping 
qualities of the latter — and possibly to their quality 
— as well as to add to the hardiness of the Grimes 
Golden, retaining its keeping qualities and quality 
of fruit. 

Bof anists are assuming it to be true that the female 
parent will be more apt to govern in the tree and 
the male parent in the fruit. This remains to be 
proven. 

Let us first describe a perfect flower; one having 
all the organs complete within itself These are 
called Hemophroditic. First the outer case called 
the calix bursts and reveals the next which is 
usually of beautiful colors and is called the cor- 
rolla. It is composed of leaves called petals. Inside 
of this we have another set of organs called stamens, 
they may be known by their generally greater 
length than the pistils, and terminating at the top 
in a small pod called the anther. This pod con- 
tains the fine dust that we call pollen. This pollen 
carries the male element of the flower, or the sperm 
cell. 

Arising from the center of the flower there is 
another important organ, sometimes many in a sin- 
gle flower, called pistils. Whether one or more it 
consists of three parts. The upper part is the stig- 



CROSS-POLLENIZING THE FLOWERS. 



87 



ma; the middle, the style, and the bottom the 
ovary. This ovary also is a pod and is partly hol- 
low and contains rudimentary seeds or ovules. In 
these are the embryo sac, which contain the female 
element of the flower. 

There can be no fruitification unless the pollen 
containing the sperm cell is brought in contact 
with the germ cell at the bottom of the flower. 
These two cells are called protoplasmic, or the 
beginning of life. 




FIG. 1. SHOWING PISTII^ATE 
STRAWBERRY FI^OWER ON 
I^EFT AND STAMINATE ON 
THE RIGHT. 



FIG. 2. BISECTED CHERRY 
FLrOWER, SHOWING AI,I^ THE 
ORGANS OF A PERFECT 
^I^OWER. 



Fig. I shows two flowers of strawberry, one stam- 
inate, the other pistilate. 

Suppose we take the flower of the cherry which 
is a good study (see Fig. 2) as all the organs are 
very distinct. In this case there is no trouble in 
producing this union. A gentle wind stirring the 
branches, or the ingress of an insect and the burst- 
ing anthers discharge their loads of golden dust 
upon the pistils or stigma. The actual contact 
between the two cells does not take place by the 



88 CROSS-POLLKNIZINCi TIIK FLOWERS. 

outward contact, but throuoli a filamentary tube 
which grows from the stigma to the ovule. 

There are many plants which have male and 
female flowers growing on different parts of the plant, 
as the squash, while others have their separate flow- 
ers on different trees, as the mulberry, buckthorn, 
hemp, etc. Such are called dioecius. 

It will be plain that if a flower has no stamens 
nor anthers, we have only to protect such from the 
ingress of possible pollen from some other flower, 
and then at the right time introduce such pollen as 
we may desire for the father of our artificial prog- 
eny. This protection is by carefully encircling the 
flower with a piece of oiled silk. The pollen is 
easily gathered and introduced. It may be shaken 
onto a piece of white paper, and then with a cam- 
els hair brush dusted off" into the subject flower. 

Exactly the same process is necessary in perfect 
flowers, except that with a delicate pair of scissors 
we must clip off" and remove the anthers from all 
the stamens before they are mature, and then apply 
the oiled silk as before. 

Carefully mark the subjects so that you can tell 
when the fruit is mature what the parents are; 
plant the seeds and watch. Those that look desir- 
able can be tested by topgrafting into bearing trees, 
and those having the appearance of a seedling, 
throw away. 

It may be useful to mention here to our farmer 
friends some of the benefits of the bumble bee. 
Darwin said that they were necessary to a good 



CROSS-POLLENIZING THE FLOWERS. 89 

crop of red clover seed. The Australians could not 
raise this seed till after they imported these bees, 
and after that succeeded in proportion to their suc- 
cess with these bees. The common honey bee can- 
not reach the nectar, so will not work on it, while 
the bumbles find it their best field. 

Red clover is a biennial plant and unless seeded 
from the crop on the ground, will not last but the 
two years. 

Don't kill the bumble bees. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Enemies of the Orchard and Fruit 

Garden. 

THEY are many, but all orchards and all 
trees need not necessarily be troubled with 
them. The object in describing and giving the 
remedies, so far as is practicable in a book of this 
size, is to teach the planter how to avoid or arrest 
them if they do get a foothold in his enclosure. 
We premise, thinking that perhaps some might 
after reading this deem it better to give it up 
before commencing. Notwithstanding the many 
enemies we have to meet and overcome, there are 
still very large and profitable orchards, and made 
by exercising only that amount of care that would 
be necessary to succeed at any other undertaking. 
If we could, before we had existence here, have 
been allowed to read a list of the "diseases that 
flesh is heir to," some might have thought best 
not to make the effort; still a fair proportion of 
those who do make the start are successful and 
satisfied, and some would be willing to begin 
again if they could under as favorable circum- 
stances. 

91 



92 ENEMIES OE THE ORCHARD 

Aside from the free, natural elements, without 
which there could be no life, we find it true that 
"that which costs nothing is worth nothing." 
There is some "poetry" in this expression, and it 
must be taken in a poetical sense, as it is not liter- 
ally true; but it does seem that in the great econ- 
omy of nature that which is of the most value and 
of the finest order is the most difficult to obtain, 
and comes only through hard and intelligently 
applied labor. 

This chapter will be devoted to insects, etc., as 
follows: (i) Leaf eating, (2) juice sucking, (3) 
fruit eating or destroying, (4) burrowing in the 
tree or vine, (5) bark eating, (6) fungoids, (7) bur- 
rowing animals, (8) sun scald, and (9) fire blight. 
The pruning knife could well be described here as 
one of the orchard's worst enemies, but a chapter 
has already been devoted to this. 

In considering insect ravages it is well to sug- 
gest that they are not regularly and annually 
destructive. In bestowing them upon us nature 
has been so kind as to send with them other insects 
or other agencies that keep them in check. These 
consist of a host of parasites that infest them, 
deposit their eggs upon or within them, where 
their young are hatched and matured, living upon 
their bodies and destroying them. There are also 
others which, as adults, devour them and their 
eggs. Birds and fowls also feed upon them. Thus 
the war goes on, and as it is more or less successful, 
so the friends or enemies are more or less numerous. 



AND FRUIT GARDEN. 93 

Dr. Linttier says: "Insects have established a 
kind of universal empire over the earth and its 
inhabitants. Minute as they are, they have deso- 
lated countries and brought ruin in their train. If 
unrestrained power were given them, and they 
were left free to attack us in person, food, clothing, 
houses and domestic animals, the consequent dis- 
ease, poverty and want would in the end remove 
the human race from the earth." Prof. Reily esti- 
mates that in the United States they annually 
cause a loss of from $300,000,000 to $400,000,000. 

There is at present 350,000 named and classified 
species^ and it is estimated that not one-third are 
yet named. 

The number that is injurious to vegetation is 
much smaller, and many of them are their para- 
sites, and consequently our friends. 

Prof. Reily says, further: "Insects play a most 
important part in the economy of nature. The 
average townsman, whose only knowledge of them 
is confined to certain household pests, has no feel- 
ing for them but one of repugnance; yet as scav- 
engers, pollenizers of our fruit and as food for 
other animals, they not only vitally concern man, 
but, philosophically considered, are seen to be nec- 
essary to his very existence upon the earth." 

Many large volumes have been devoted to the 
description of insects, but as we have promised to 
take a practical view of all the subjects treated 
upon it is not believed that the generic description 
of one will be necessary here. Space can be 



94 ENEMIES OF THE ORCHARD 

devoted to other matters of greater practical 
importance. 

Hexipod insects are transformed through four 
separate stages — (i) the ova, or eggs; (2) the larva, 
or active eating stage, in which they are improp- 
erly called worms; (3) the pupa, or chrysalis, in 
which it is inactive and from which it emerges as 
the perfect insect or imago, in the fourth transition. 

Leaf Eatej^s. — These are in most cases the larva 
as above, but there are some bugs or beetles that 
also eat leaves ; but the perfect insect or imago is 
usually harmless. Whatever the insect, bug or 
worm may be that eats the leaves of any tree or 
plant, the remedy is the same and very simple; 
that is, the spraying with some of the arsenites, 
and those most in use are London purple and Paris 
green. These are applied as will be directed below 
with a force or spraying pump in a stream broken 
up by a mechanical appliance into fine spray. 
Every fruit grower, as well as every farmer, should 
have one of these. They may be large, powerful 
and expensive, or simple and cheap, according to 
the work that is expected of them. Trees should 
be watched very closely during the summer to see 
whether leaves are being eaten. If they are and 
the trees are small, the eaters will be easily found 
and picked off and destroyed; but if large, use the 
sprayer and the eating will stop. 

There is one insect that requires special mention, 
the leaf critmpler. In winter we often see small 
tufts of withered leaves adhering to the twigs, gen- 



AND FRUIT GARDEN. 95 

erally of small trees. These are the homes of a 
small brown worm ^ inch long, the egg having 
been deposited there the previous spring, and 
which will at some time during the early part of 
the next summer emerge a perfect winged insect, 
being a grayish moth having about ^ inch spread 
of wings. They are not as injurious as some, as 
they do not under ordinary circumstances become 
very plenty; but they are hard to reach with the 
poison, but can be picked and destroyed in winter. 
As these, as well as all other insects in the pupa 
or larva stage, are apt to be infested with parasitic 
friends, it is well to put the cocoons in a box over 
which there is fastened window wire screen, which 
will allow the latter to escape, while it holds the 
former. 

Sap Suckers. — These are a class of very small 
insects, known as plant lice, of the Aphides. They 
suck the sap of plants by means of a tubular pro- 
boscis which they insert into the tender shoots. 
They are more destructive to house plants than 
others, but some of the tribe are often destructive 
when they get a lodgement in the roots of apple 
and other trees, and from which they are very hard 
to dislodge, but will generally in a few years be 
overcome by their natural enemies, for small as 
they are, they, too, are infested with parasites and 
also greedily devoured by the larva of the lady bug 
and lace-winged fly. When their natural enemies 
are insufficient to hold them in check, they are 
easily overcome where they can be reached by ker- 



96 ENEMIES OF THE ORCHARD 

osene emulsion. They cannot be reached by the 
arsenites, as they have no jaws and lake no solid 
food. 

Fruit Eating or Destroying. — These consist 
mainly of the codling moth, ciirculio and gouger. 

The former is by far the most destructive. When 
we get a "wormy apple" we get the larva of the 
codling moth. This insect is dark brown and has 
a spread of wings of about ^ to ^ of an inch. 
She deposits her ^^^ in the calix or blossom end of 
the apple as soon as it is set, and it soon hatches 
and commences to eat its way to and into the fruit. 
It is at this stage that the remedy is applied; that 
is, spraying with an arsenite while the apex of the 
fruit is still turned upward. It has been found by 
experiment that trees so sprayed yield 70 per cent 
more perfect fruit than where it is neglected. The 
spraying must not be done while the trees are in 
blossom, but as soon as the petals are shed. Some 
repeat after four or five days, which is advisable. 

The gougers and curculio are much alike and 
deposit their eggs in the young fruit, or up to the 
time it is nearly half grown, by either puncturing 
the skin, as with the gougers, or by cutting a cres- 
cent-shaped opening through the skin, as with the 
curculio. The larva hatches and eats its way to 
the stone, for they work mostly on stone fruits. 
Here they live upon the kernel, and when the fruit 
drops they escape into the ground, where they are 
transformed. It is ascertained that these insects, 
at the time of their ^^^ laying, eat some of the 



AND FRUIT GARDEN. 97 

fruit, and at times even the leaves. Spraying has 
been found beneficial on this account, but jarring 
the trees at this season of the year early in the 
morning is also resorted to. The insects drop dov/n 
on to sheets and are gathered and destroyed. 

Borers. — There are two of these insects chat 
attack the apple trees and some others. The round- 
headed one works near the base of the trunk. This 
is known as saperda vivitata^ or Candida. The per- 
fect insect is a brown beetle with two white stripes 
running the entire length of the body. It deposits 
its eggs one in a place in the night, generally near 
the ground; the larva works its way through the 
bark and then works either upward or downward 
in a circle in the sapwood, frequently girdling the 
tree before it burrows deeper toward the heart of 
the tree. The time required to make the life cycle 
again to the adult is stated by Dr. Fitch to be two 
years, but Reily says three. This is immaterial ; 
the remedies are the same, as well as for the flat- 
head, which works higher and occasionally in the 
larger branches. This is the chrysobothris fejnorata^ 
and is the one that attacks the box elders and soft 
maple. The first indication of the former will be 
in the latter part of June, when a small hole will 
be observed, and the bark around it will be darker 
and, later, somewhat sunken, and the chips or dust 
will be seen protruding. The latter will show the 
effect a month or more later. If noticed early the 
remedy is to press hard with the thumb, and if it 
is efifective the grub will be crushed and easily 



98 ENEMIES OF THE ORCHARD 

detected by the feeling. If not successful with 
this the knife must be used, which will at any 
time during the first summer soon dislodge him. 
If the second summer, prod him to death with a 
strong, flexible wire. 

Washes of strong soap and water, to which has 
been added ^ its bulk of turpentine, will also kill 
them if not too deep. It will also prevent their 
getting a lodgement in the tree. 

It is believed that the beetle will never deposit 
the eggs on trees that are whitewashed with the 
preparation hereafter described. It is also my opin- 
ion that they never attack a perfectly sound and 
healthy tree. When from any cause the sap 
becomes disorganized and stagnant the insect is 
attracted by the odor to the tree. Trees with low 
heads or those shaded by artificial means will not 
be troubled by borers in the west. 

The tree or white crickets are at times trouble- 
some by boring into the canes of the raspberries, 
and frequently kill them. The remedy is to cut 
the canes and burn them. 

Baj'k Eating. — Aside from domestic animals 
there are but two of these that are liable to 
give us trouble, namely rabbits and mice. Some- 
times sheep or old hogs will girdle the trees. 
These, if allowed in the orchard, and they are 
sometimes used there to advantage in devouring 
wormy windfalls, should be watched. 

Mice will not frequent a clean orchard, imless 
there is a lot of weeds and grass very near it, 



AND FRUIT GARDEN. 99 

in which case they might run in for a few yards. 
The preventive is simple and effective. Bank 
up the trees only a few inches in height with 
clean earth, and smooth it down in the shape 
of an inverted funnel. The mouse will never 
climb it. 

Rabbits have been a great pest, and some have 
been deterred from planting an orchard on account 
of them. Blood applied to the trees is in nearly all 
cases a sure preventive from the " Cotton tails," or 
timber rabbits, but not against Jacks. They are 
not a nice feeder, and will eat trees so prepared, 
and even when soaped seem to relish it just the 
same. The only sure remedy is to encase the 
trees in something that they will not meddle with. 
We have found the corn stalks to be the best and 
cheapest. They should be left on the trees sum- 
mer and winter. Wire screening is used by some, 
but is more expensive and no better. They should 
be shot and trapped, and every effort made to get 
rid of them. 

Fungoids. — These are the lowest forms of vege- 
table growth, and so minute in their organisms as 
to require the most powerful microscope to discover 
them. It lives in the form of mildew, scab of the 
apple, and is particularly abundant on the leaves of 
yearling apple seedlings, and the leaves of the 
cherry in the latter part of the season, where it 
-appears as a whitish mould, which causes the leaves 
to curl and frequently drop. The remedy for this 
is the Bordeaux mixture, described below. It is 



lOO ENEMIES OF THE ORCHARD 

claimed that "fire blight" is the effect of one of 
these spores. 

Burrowing animals. — Pocket gophers and ground 
moles are at times, especially the former, very 
destructive. Moles are only injurious in small 
fruit or other gardens, and the injury is only from 
the displacement of the earth; they never eat any 
vegetable substance, but live on worms, bugs and 
grubs, and may be as beneficial as harmful. How- 
ever, they are easily trapped if desired with a mole 
trap which can be procured at the hardware stores, 
with full directions for use. 

Pocket gophers frequently cut through the trees 
a few inches under ground, which are 4 to 5 inches 
in diameter. The first indication may be the 
withering of the leaves, when it will be found to 
be entirely severed. They are easily trapped or 
poisoned. In trapping, dig to the runway and set 
a common steel trap, then cover with a board to 
prevent the earth from falling back, and cover this 
with earth to keep put all the light. Use the end 
gate rod to a wagon for prodding the earth to find 
their runways which will save digging. Small 
potatoes with a small amount of strychnine pricked 
in, and these deposited in their runways will be the 
easiest and most effective way to get rid of them. 

Prof Hilgard, of the state university of Califor- 
nia, has orginated a means of destroying all bur- 
rowing animals, and which is vouched for by several 
of our best agricultural papers. It is thought to 
be of sufficient value to give it here in full. 



AND FRUIT GARDEN. lOI 

KILLING GOPHERS. 

One of the simplest means and probably the most 
effective and cheapest method yet devised for 
destroying gophers and other burrowing animals is 
by the use of bisulphide of carbon. This com- 
pound when pure forms a colorless, mobile liquid 
having a peculiar odor, and when taken inwardly is 
a violent poison. As usually obtained it contains 
impurities in the form of other compounds of sul- 
phur which give it a strong and extremely offen- 
sive odor, and when inhaled it soon causes death. 
For the purpose of destroying gophers or ground 
squirrels the crude bisulphide is better and much 
cheaper than the pure article. Care should be 
taken in using the liquid, as it is both inflammable 
and explosive. Its efficacy depends on the fact 
that its vapor is heavier than air and when intro- 
duced into burrows flows like water into all the 
recesses. 

The method of use for burrowing mammals is as 
follows: A small quantity, about 3 tablespoonfuls 
for prairie dogs, and 2 tablespoonfuls for gophers, 
should be poured upon a bunch of rags or waste, 
which should be immediately placed within the 
mouth of the burrow, and the hole closed. 

In a bulletin ' ' On the destruction of Ground 
Squirrels by the use of Bisulphide of Carbon, ' ' pub- 
lished in 1878, Prof Hilgard gives the results of 
experiments made on the California ground squirrel 
as follows: 

" It is curious that in no case have I known a 



I02 ENEMIES OF THE ORCHARD 

squirrel to run out of the holes before the gas; 
when it meets it face to face in a run, death seems 
to be almost instantaneous. But in most cases the 
animals seem to retire to their nests to die there in 
a stupor. The mode of proceeding is simply this: 
Select one or two of the freshest holes in a burrow, 
introduce into it, as deep down as you can reach, a 
wide-mouthed ounce vial full of the liquid, upset 
the vial, and withdraw it. The holes may all be 
closed at once, with earth, which need not be 
rammed; the only object being to keep the gas in, 
and to see if any of the inmates dig out afterwards. 
The dead animal is thus buried and out of sight in 
his own burrow, creates no stench and poisons 
nothing; its flesh would not be injurious even if 
dug up. No other wild or domestic animal runs 
any risk, unless it be the gopher. The holes retain 
an offensive odor for some time, and remain closed 
and untenanted. As for the expense of this 
method, I have freed the most thickly-peopled 
portions of the University campus (level ground) 
from every vestige of squirrels with about a pound 
of the liquid per acre; about half an hour being 
spent by two men in closing the holes with 
shovels." 

The same will kill wolves with equal certainty 
only using a little more than double the quantity 
used for gophers. 

Sun Scald. — This is an injury to the bark on the 
south or south west side of the trunk of trees which 
causes it to peel off, leaving the wood exposed. 



AND FRUIT GARDEN. IO3 

It is more frequently, and indeed nearly always, 
confined to trees with a long exposed trunk that 
have an inclination to the northeast. 

This is not always fatal to a tree, as sometimes 
the injur}^ will be partially mended by the natural 
deposits of wood and bark from both sides till the 
wound is wholly or partially healed over. Even 
where this occurs it is still very injurious to the 
the tree as it leaves beneath a large portion of dead 
wood which is apt to decay and will in any case be 
almost sure to attract the insect that produces the 
borer. She will deposit her eggs there and the 
borer follows. I believe that this will seldom or 
never occur in a perfectly sound tree. 

This sun scald has been generally considered one 
of the worst obstacles to overcome in the making 
of a good orchard. It is now not considered at all 
serious, with proper management. The reader is 
referred to the chapter on pruning where this 
malady and its causes are treated. If the tree has 
the proper natural form it will not occur. 

Young trees seldom scald; it is the tree from 5 
to 8 inches in diameter in early bearing that is the 
first to show this trouble; so do not suppose that 
when the trees are this size that the danger is over, 
it has only just begun, and lose no time in mak- 
ing for them an artificial screen of some kind. 

Wire screening, such as is used for windows, encir- 
cling them will be an excellent protection, and like 
all the others will not only protect from the sun's 
rays but the depredations of field mice, rabbits, 



104 ENEMIES OF THE ORCHARD 

hail, and incidentally from borers. Where this is 
used allow at least two inches space between the 
wire and the tree. 

Corn stalks stripped of their leaves and set around, 
using just enough to reach around, only, and then 
fastened there with a small wire will be cheaper 
and answer the purpose as well. They may be 
tied with string but the crickets are apt to eat the 
strings off. Hay ropes twisted about them will do 
as well. 

It will be understood that this protection is 
placed there and kept there till the limbs of 
the tree above, or of one adjoining on the south 
have made further shading unnecessary. 

The reason younger trees are less apt to sun 
scald than older ones, is not so clear, but is proba- 
bly because the circle is so much smaller and 
sharper, that there is not the same proportion of 
its surface exposed at the same angle, or a greater 
surface proportionately of the larger tree exposed 
at a lesser angle. Another cause may be the con- 
tinued exposure for years, whicli may have been a 
constant source of slight injury, culminating later 
in the full effect. 

This induces the belief that a whitewash of 
some kind applied to the trunks of trees at the age 
when most likely to be affected would prevent this 
mischief measurably, perhaps entirely, though it 
has not yet been tested by me. Such a wash 
might be of material benefit in other directions. It 
is believed by some and with some show of reason, 



AND FRUIT GARDEN. IO5 

that lime preparations applied to trees will prevent 
fire blight. 

Such a wash may be made as follows: Slack a 
few pounds of lime in a bucket, and when nearly 
full add about one pound of copperas (sulphate of 
iron) previously dissolved in hot water. This will 
thicken it. Stir thoroughly, and thin as is needed 
for use. Apply at any time when the tree is not 
frozen, and several times during the year. Some 
add to this a half pound of glue, thinking that it 
will be less liable to wash or scale off, but it is not 
necessary, and adds to the expense. If more is 
made than is wanted it can be set away in the cel- 
lar for future use. 

This treatment can do no hurt to the trees, and 
is believed to be of considerable benefit in destroy- 
ing insects; and lessening the danger from sun 
scalding, as a white substance will not absorb the 
rays of the sun to the extent that the brown bark 
of the tree will. 

Do not depend upon this to take the place of the 
corn stalks or other protection in young trees. 

It will not do to use white paint, or any substance 
containing oils, either vegetable or animal. The 
bark performs an important office and the pores 
must not be clogged. 

Dark colored screens of any kind should not be 
used, especially tarred paper. The author tried 
this at one time on a five acre orchard, in which 
the trees were just coming to bearing, and the sec- 
ond winter every tree so processed was killed in the 



Io6 ENEMIES OK THE ORCHARD 

bark just as high as the paper extended. A few 
from which the paper had become dislodged were 
not harmed. 

The light colored paper called parchment would 
probably be as good as anything, but I do not know 
of its being tried. 

The descriptions, etc. , of insects in this chapter 
have been necessarily so meager that we wish to 
say that any one who wishes to know more will 
always find a quick response to any question by 
writing to the ' ' Professor of Entomology, ' ' at the 
capital of his state, or at the Department at Wash- 
ington. Bulletins are issued from time to time 
giving the most minute and careful descriptions, 
together with the remedies, and they will always 
be forwarded when requested. 

Fire Blight. — It will be frequently noticed about 
midsummer that some trees will present the 
appearance of having been scorched by fire. The 
first appearance is at the ends of the growing shoots, 
but at times, though rarely, it attacks the trunks, 
near the intersections of the large limbs. This is 
said to be the work of one of the fiingoids^ so 
minute that several hundred could hold high car- 
nival on the head of a pin. They are much smaller 
than the name given them, which is Micrococcus 
amylovorus. They are said to exist in unlimited 
quantities, and to be blown about at random by 
the winds, and when one comes in contact with 
incomplete wood, the exposed cells are so open 
that they enter, when the trouble begins. They 



AND KRUIT GARDEN. 107 

may also get a lodgement in a tree at any place 
where there is an abrasion of the bark. 

The immediate cause of the death of the parts of 
the tree thus effected, is the fermentation caused by 
these spores. Their action is the same in the veg- 
etable world as is that of the germs of cholera or 
diphtheria in the human family. Just why they 
exist is very hard to determine, but that they 
do, is all that concerns us in our battle against 
them. 

There is no known remedy that we can apply in 
one case more than in the other. The only way 
that they are combatted at present, in the vegeta- 
ble world is by prevention so far as possible, and 
by the pruning knife if the former is unsuccessful. 
Trees that are in the very best condition of health, 
and located most favorably will be less liable to 
attacks than others under converse conditions. 

That this disease is contagious as well as en- 
demic there is no doubt, and if a tree becomes 
affected and no attention is given it, others in the 
vicinity will soon be attacked. For this reason 
the greatest care should be used to select those 
varieties not subject to this trouble. The crab 
apples are most subject to this and the Russian 
varieties as a class are also bad blighters, but there 
are some of these, however, that are as free from it 
as are the American or European varieties. In the 
list of Russian apples given this has been carefully 
considered. 

The trees should be watched during the early 



Io8 ENEMIES OF THE ORCHARD 

summer, and the first indication of the disease 
should be met with the knife. Cut and burn, or 
carry to considerable distance from the orchard, say 
lOO feet or more. The latter has been my prac- 
tice, and I have never had blight in large orchards 
and nursery to do any material harm. This is due 
to prompt action. 

From the above it will be seen that in cutting 
out the wood it must not be taken nearer to other 
trees than is necessary, or we shall communicate it 
to them. 

There are many things which we meet in inves- 
, tigating this that would cause us to doubt the posi- 
tion taken by our scientists and microscopists but 
which would not justify controversy here. The 
treatment is the same, v/hatever the cause may he. 

In cutting it will not be enough to cut out the 
parts that show the dead and withered wood, the 
cut should be made a foot or more below the apar- 
ent injury, if the shoot or branch will admit of it, 
and where a small tree is badly affected, it should 
be cut away entirely. 

This disease is much worse in the southern part 
of Iowa and Nebraska, and in that latitude than it 
is further north. It is also more common on the 
Mississippi than the Missouri slopes, but it has no 
limits, in the United States. 

To recapitulate, select high ground for the 
orchard, if practicable, and avoid the hottest places, 
especially where there is not a good air drainage, 
which is of the utmost importance for this, as well 



AND FRUIT GARDEN. 1 09 

as for all other purposes connected with the estab- 
lishing of a good orchard. 

Avoid planting largely of the crabs, especially 
the transcendent, which is the worst blighter of all. 
When it is first discovered cut it out, even if takes 
whole trees. 

Insecticides. — Some form of arsenic is the best 
for the destruction of all leaf-eating insects. Paris 
green or London purple have their basis in this 
poison, and are cheap. The London purple is the 
best. As it is a deadly poison to all animals it 
must be handled prudently. Cattle or other stock 
should not be allowed to feed under the trees where 
this has been used as a spray. 

It is also essential that the solution shall be 
strong enough to accomplish the object, without 
being so strong as to kill the delicate tissues of the 
plant. Such a strength has been found to be i 
pound of London purple or Paris green to 200 gal- 
lons of water. Keep well stirred while applying, 
as it quickly settles to the bottom of the water, 
which would make the last of the cask so strong as 
to burn the foliage. Neither of these arsenites should 
be used upon the peach trees, as their leaf tissues 
are so delicate as to be destroyed by the weakest 
solution. There is less danger to the foliage of 
any plants if White Hellebore is used. It may be 
used as a spray at the rate of one ounce to three gal- 
lons of water. When applied as a dust or a powder 
it is mixed with its own weight of flour to add to 
its adhesiveness. 



no ENEMIES OK THE ORCHARD 

The three substances above described are poison- 
ous to animals as well as insects, while those which 
follow are poisonous to insects alone: 

Kerosene Emulsion. — This is made by dissolv- 
ing y^ pound of good hard soap or i quart of 
soft soap in 2 quarts of hot water; add i pint 
of kerosene and mix thoroughly. This is some- 
times done by churning. A better way is to 
make it with a force pump, pumping it 
through and returning it to the vessel several 
times. When thoroughly mixed it may be set 
away for any length of time, and when needed 
dilute the mixture with three times its measure 
of water. 

Pyrethriim {BuhacJi) is used successfully for plant 
lice or red spiders. It may be applied direct in a 
powder, or dissolved in alcohol. Use 4 ounces of 
alcohol to I of pyrethrum in a bottle kept tightly 
corked. Shake occasionally, and at the end of a 
week filter through fine muslin and apply with an 
atomizer. 

Quassia Chips^ boiled to a strong solution, will 
kill plant lice but does not injure the spiders. Use 
2 ounces of chips to 2 quarts of water. A few 
hours after the application of any of these prepara- 
tions upon house plants, they should be thoroughly 
washed in clean water. 

Neither of the three last-named are poisonous to 
animals and kill the insect only by contact, so it 
will be necessary to know that the work is done 
thoroughly. 



AND FRUIT GARDEN. Ill 

BLACK HEART. 

Lack of correct information upon this subject 
has led to great imposition upon planters by either 
ignorant or dishonest vendors. It is this that has 
enabled them to so adroitly work the budded apple 
tree swindle described elsewhere. 

This they teach to be a disease of the tree caused 
by improper methods of propagation. It is no more 
a disease than a burn or frost-bite. It is a condi- 
tion, simply, and will not spread by contagion from 
tree to tree; nor will it spread from one part of an 
affected tree to another part. It may increase, but 
it will require the same cause to increase it that it 
did to produce it at first. 

Just what this condition is, and the cause or 
causes, is now as well known as is any other physio- 
logical fact. It is simply a rupture of the wood 
cells, of which all plants are composed. In this 
condition the sap will not flow from one cell to 
another, becomes stagnant and discolored and this 
is "black heart." 

The sap or plant food is enabled to flow through 
these minute vesicles freely to all parts of the tree 
when in a normal condition, but this delicate 
organization is liable to injury by any adverse or 
unnatural conditions. These may be the unadapt- 
abilty of a tree to the climate, or the improper 
handling of one that would be under ordinary cir- 
cumstances adaptable. If we plant an orange tree 
here, the first severe frost would not only rupture 
the cells of the inner wood, but would rupture 



112 ENEMIES OF THE ORCHARD 

them all and cause its death. Should we take the 
peach instead of the orange, the effect would be 
measurably the same under a severer strain; but 
this tree might preserve enough of its cells under the 
bark, which is the throne of life of all trees, to not 
only preserve its life but enable it to overcome, in a 
measure, the injury and become a valuable, pro- 
ductive tree, while the inner wood remains badly 
discolored. Again, take the apple instead of the 
peach ; and we may have the same result, for there is 
as great a difference in hardiness between different 
varieties of the apple as there is between the ten- 
derest apples and the hardiest peaches. 

It is also known that freezing, under some con- 
ditions will cause the rupture when under others, 
much severer cold is harmless. It matters not 
how the tree is propagated, the effect will be the 
same and there is no treatment known that will 
entirely prevent it. 

There is a practical view of it, however, and if 
we follow the best course that can be marked out) 
there will be little loss arising from it. The first 
precaution is to select such trees as are known to 
be hardy in the locality, and after this to give them * 
such care as will enable them to mature their 
growth, and fortify themselves in every way against 
the attacks of the coming winter. To teach the 
planter how best to do this is the province of this 
book. 

There are other causes, however, besides freez- 
ing, which are to be avoided, one is pruning 



AND FRUIT GARDEN. II3 

improperly, and this injury is more severe, for that 
caused by freezing may not be of great damage 
to the tree, while the former results in death in a 
short time. 

No one will claim that this condition of a tree 
is of no consequence, and no one would wish to 
plant such a tree; but there are, in my opinion, 
throughout the United States, far more trees that 
are discolored than perfectly sound ones. In Ver- 
mont, the Baldwin is one of their most valuable 
trees, yet, Mr. Hoskins tells us, that he does not 
know of one tree of this variety which is not dis- 
colored. The same is true of the Talman Sweet in 
the west, and measurably so with the Fameuse, yet 
both are valuable, long-lived trees. 

The ^^ Super knowledgisf'* should also be men- 
tioned in this connection as one of the enemies. 
As the word is coined for the occasion it will be 
well to define it. 

He is the man whom A. Ward must have had in 
his mind when he said: "It is better not to know 
so much than to know so many things that ain't 
so.'^ He is a walking encyclopedia of positive 
knowledge. When he goes with us to the orchard 
school begins and unless we are carefully on guard 
he will open his knife and give us practical lessons 
in pruning by mutilating our trees. He is the man 
who plants his vegetables in the moon, and who 
''never knew it to fail." He will tell us how to 
make dried trees grow by putting a feed of oats 
under them, o. sticking a potato on the ends of all 



114 ENEMIES OF THE ORCHARD. 

the roots; thc^t as many days old as the moon is 
when trees are planted so many years it will be 
before the trees bear; that weeping trees are made 
by inserting the buds or grafts upside down; that 
he has seen his uncle (who was a ' 'gardner in the 
old country" perhaps) graft apples in the elms, but 
admits that the fruit was inferior; that evergreens 
should be planted in June (the very month in all 
the year when they should not be moved) that 
trees late in coming into bearing "need iron" and 
he drives them full of rusty nails; in short if aught 
is amiss with anybody or anything, "Baith their 
disease and what' 11 mend it, at once he tells it." 
He is a well meaning person, his advice is always 
voluntary, positive, and positively gratuitous but 
in the ordinary, practical walks of life, and espe- 
cially in this line we should kindly decline his 
services, and struggle along as best we may with- 
out him. 



CHAPTER VIIL 

PropagatioD. 

IF fruits reproduced themselves true to name like 
vegetables, this matter of propagation would 
be very simple, but as they do not, we are com- 
pelled, in order to continue any one desirable 
sort, to absolutely prolong its life. Thus the 
Rawls Janet of to-day is a part of the original tree 
that originated in Virginia lOO years ago. 

A piece of a tree which it is desirable to perpet- 
uate, is placed in such a position that it will unite 
with another tree of the same species. This 
becomes a tree and may at some future time be 
required to surrender a like portion of itself to still 
further continue or perpetuate the variety. 

Whether we propagate these desirable varieties 
by grafting, budding, cuttings or layering, the 
principle upon which the work is performed is the 
same; the introduction of a root system to a cion 
or young shoot having none. When by grafting 
of budding the cion or bud must strike its roots or 
cells into the stock upon which it is to live, and 
thus through the medium of this stock acquire its 
connection with the root system. 

Many suppose that any two trees can be grafted 

U5 



Il6 PROPAGATION. 

together, but there is a limit to this work, and the 
grafter will not be successful unless the stock and 
cion are closely allied. Varieties of the same 
species unite most readily, then species of the same 
genus, then genera of the same natural order, 
beyond which there can be no uniting of the parts. 
Thus apples work easily upon apples, crabs or 
thorns, less easily upon pears and not at all upon 
peaches. 

The initial point of growth in any case will be 
exactly the same as though we were growing it 
from a cutting, which is a cion planted in the 
earth; that is, the formation of wood cells of which" 
the entire tree is made. In this case they form 
until they unite with like wood cells which are 
induced in the stock, when there is a connection 
with the whole system of the other tree. 

When by cuttings or layerings, this cion is 
supposed to be of such a sort that it will, under 
proper circumstances, continue this cell formation 
until it takes the form of, and performs all the 
offices of the original roots, when we have a new 
tree or vine as the case may be, ^'upon its own 
roots. ' ' 

Propagation by Seeds. — This is the simplest form 
of all. The seeds of currants, gooseberries, or any 
other of the small fruits may be washed by rubbing 
the ripe fruit smartly in water, and pouring it off. 
The seeds settle to the bottom. These seeds may 
all be planted in the fall, or generally at the time 
of ripening, and in this way some valuable new 



PROPAGATION. II7 

sorts may be obtained, but the chances of this are 
so remote that only the scientific cross-fertilizer will 
care to take the chances of throwing away a life 
for the ideal fruit that will probably never come, 
if at all, in any other manner. 

The apple and all stone fruits will also succeed 
better if planted in the fall in moist ground, and 
covered as the judgment Vill direct, and the soil 
firmly pressed down upon them. Sometimes stones 
of the peach, plum, etc., will remain in the ground 
till the second year before germinating. 

By Cuttings. — This consists of planting a shoot 
of the last season's growth which under favorable 
circumstances will emit roots and grow. The 
currant, gooseberry' and grape are readily grown in 
this way, though for the amateur it will be found 
more successful to propagate all but the first 
named by layering, or "patting down," which is 
described below. 

The best manner to treat the currant is to cut 
the young shoots as soon in the fall as the leaves 
fall, and cut them into lengths of 7 or 8 inches, 
plant them immediately in deeply plowed rich 
land, putting them in the whole depth, and firming 
the soil about them. In this manner they will 
make roots before freezing weather of from 2 to 4 
inches long, and will make fine plants the next 
season. They may also be grown by planting in the 
same way in the spring, but not so well. If "trees" 
are desired cut out all the buds but 2 or 3 at the top 
before planting. Many other trees and shrubs can 



ii8 



t>ROPAGATION* 



be grown in this way such as the cotton wood, wil- 
low, syringa, honeysuckle, of all varieties, etc. 




FIG. 3. SHOWING A TONGUED I^AYKRING 





FIG 4. SHOWING (1) THE STOCK WITH 2 INCISIONS; (2) 
THE BUD CUT READY EOR INSERTING; (3) THE STOCK WITH 
CORNERS RAISED READY FOR THE INSERTION; AND (4) THE 
BUD INSERTED AND TIED. 

By Layering. — This is done by simply chosing a 
low growing shoot generally of the past year's 



PROPAGATION. 



119 



FIG. 5. STICK OF 

BODS WITH LINES 
SHOWING THE PRO- 
PER CUTS. 



growth, bending it down to a 
shallow trench in the ground pre- 
viously prepared for it and fasten- 
ing it there by setting a forked 
stake over it, and covering with 
earth. In some cases the emis- 
sion of roots is hastened if there 
is a slit or tongue raised by parti- 
ally severing the shoot at its low- 
est point (see Fig. 3). The grape 
is very easily propagated in this 
way. It will also apply to any 
tree susceptible of being placed 
in this position, though some 
may require two or more years 
to establish a root system. 

By Budding. — This consists of 
inserting a bud of the desired 
variety under the bark of the 
stock at the right time which 
becomes a part of the tree as in 
grafting. There are two princi- 
pal methods; spring and summer 
budding. The latter is most in 
use and is done at any time in 
the summer when buds are suffi- 
ciently matured, and the bark 
will "run" or peel easily in the 
stock, generally from July 20, to 
the first of September, varying 
with the latitude. Cherries, 



I20 PROPAGATION. 

plums, and peaches will mature first, and the 
apple and pear later. No definite time can be 
given, as different seasons will also vary the time. 
It is better that the buds are from a cion that has 
hardly matured its terminal bud. If at this time the 
bark of the stock runs readily, and the work is per- 
formed rightly there will be little danger of fail- 
ure. 

If the stock is a thrifty one of one or two years 
growth it is better, and is not generally successful 
on larger stocks. In Fig. 4 is shown the stock with 
the incision; the bud ready for inserting; and the 
bud in position with the ligature properly fastened. 
If the stock is in proper condition it will only be 
necessary to raise the corners slightly as shown, 
when the bud can be easily forced home. If the 
bud should be of some of the very slender, weak 
ones, like some of the chicasa plums, it may be 
necessary to open the bark the full distance, in 
which case the edges are carefully raised without 
disturbing the cambium^ or gelatinous matter under 
the bark. Fig 5 shows a stick of buds ready for 
the operator, the curved lines showing the proper 
cut to be made. These buds must not be allowed 
to become dry. Coarse woolen yarn is used much 
for tying, but of late raffia is used altogether by 
nurserymen. For the amateur it is not better than 
the yarn. In about ten days this should be 
removed to prevent its gi'owing into the tree. 

This bud remains dormant till the next spring 
when the stock is cut off" with a sloping cut just 



PROPAGATION. 121 

above the bud, when it develops into the branch 
or future tree. In rapid growing varieties, and in 
strong stocks it will be necessary to give these 
some support or they will break off by a very 
moderate wind. Staking with the stock that is 
cut from above the graft, and tying to it is prac- 
ticed by many. 

Spring Bttdding. — The advantages of this are 
that work that failed the past summer can be re- 
newed without loss of time, and the buds are de- 
veloped soon after being set. 

The buds should be cut in fall or winter and 
kept absolutely dormant till they are to be set. 
This is done by packing them in the sawdust of 
the ice-house, as soon in the spring as there is 
danger of growth taking place. Keep them nearly 
dry, or as near as possible in their natural condi- 
tion, and only take them out as fast as they are 
used. They are not set till the tree is in leaf, say 
about the first of June, when the young shoots 
have made an inch or two of growth. If in small 
stocks they should receive some injury to check 
the too rapid flow of sap at the time the bud is set. 
Some cut a notch about ^ of the diameter directly 
above the bud, while others seize the stock with 
both hands and give it a twisting, or green stick 
fracture. In about ten days the stock is cut off 
and the buds treated as described above. 

Plums, cherries, peaches, pears, and many 
flowering shrubs are propagated almost entirely by 
budding, while grafting is used for the apple, 



122 



PROPAGATION. 



crabs and some other trees and shrubs. It is not 
necessary to use wax in any of the forms of bud- 
ding. 

Graftmg is of two general kinds. Aerial and 
Terrestrial. The former is above ground, and will 
always demand that the splice shall be so waxed as 
to entirely exclude both air and water. The latter 
is either performed under ground, or will be estab- 
lished below ground, depending upon this to so far 
exclude the air as to admit of the union. This is 
applied to grafting the grape (not used) and to root 
grafts, by which nearly all apples and crabs are 
propagated. 




H 



FIG. 7. WHIP GRAFTING SHOWING (1) THE SI.OPING CUTS, 

(2") THE PARTS TONGUED, (3) SET TOGETHER, AND 

(4) THE WORK WAXED AND COMPI,ETED. 



Fig. 7 shows the manner of whip grafting, which 
is very simple and effective. In this the cion and 



PROPAGATION. 



123 



stock should be as near as may be of the same size. 
The sloping cuts being made the cut surfaces are 
simply split as shown, and they are then pressed 
firmly together. Should one be larger than the 
other, make them match on one side, while the 
other laps. Waxing is best done where there is 
much to do, by keeping the wax warm in a kettle 
by the use of a small lamp. It is then applied with 
brush or a flat stick, and, while warm, a strip of 
cloth is wound around it which holds the pieces in 
place, and insures a perfect sealing. 

Cleft Grafting. — Is that usually practiced in the 
top of large trees, but let us drop a word of caution 






FIG. 8 SHOWING THE PROCESS OF CI^EFT GRAFTING. THE 

FIGURE ON THE RIGHT SHOWING DIFFERENCE IN 

THICKNESS OF BARK. 



here. Trees in the west will not admit of the cut- 
ting of large limbs for grafting, any more than in 
pruning, nor a great many of them at a time. In 



124 



PROPAGATION. 



top working a tree eight years old make three opera- 
tions, going through as many years. If it should 
be found that the tree is discolored it will be better 
to abandon the grafting, and leave it for what it is 
worth, as blight is almost sure to follow. Fig. 8 
shows the manner of cutting, splitting, and cutting 
and inserting the cions. The wedge may be made 
of wood, and is only inserted to hold the cleft apart 
while the cion is being placed, when it is with- 
drawn. It will be noticed that the bark on the 
smaller cion is thinner than on the larger stock, 
and care must be taken that the 
inner bark be made to match, 
disregarding the outside. Suc- 
cess will depend upon this and 
upon thorough waxing, and 
the use of a very sharp, thin 
knife. 

Fig. 9 shows the cions as 
placed in the cleft, the wedge 
withdrawn, all ready for wax- 
ing. 

Root Grafting. — Is done in- 
doors in winter, the roots called 
stocks and the cions having 
been previously stored in frost 
proof cellars. The stocks are 
cleaned of most of the side 
branches and cut as shown in Fig. lo very much 
as in whip grafting. The sloping cut is first made 
at or about the crown of the stock, the split or 



FIG. 9 

CIvEFT 

GRAFT 

READY FOR 

WAXING. 



PROPAGATION. 



125 



"tongue" is then made and the stock cut off about 
4 inches below, when the same is repeated till the 
stock is used. The cions are cut in the same way, 
about 6 to 7 inches long. They are then pressed 
firmly together and tied with waxed thread. The 
wax is not for the purpose of sealing the cuts, 
but for convenience in tying. It is not necessary 
to have it waxed. The thread is fastened at the 
bottom of the splice by overlapping as shown in 
budding, then three or four wraps are made and the 
other end fastened by drawing it into the cleft at 
the top, or simply breaking it and rolling in the 
fingers. The former is best. These 
are now packed away in boxes in 
damp sawdust or sand in cellar 
to callus. They soon unite and 
when everything is favorable will 
give very nearly a full stan^d. Dib- 
bles are used for planting, and the 
graft set below the ground except 
the top bud, and the soil is pressed 
very firmly, especially at the bot- 
tom of the graft, taking care at 
the time not to break the joint, or 
the graft will die. 

Side Graftmg. — Fig. 1 1 shows 

a very useful mode of grafting, 

and a novice will succeed with 

this oftener than with any other aerial work. The 

stock is grasped firmly in the hand and bent slightly 

to facilitate the incision, the cion is cut as for 




'.villi lil' ^ 

FIG. 11. 
A SIDE GRAFT 



1 26 PROPAGATION. 

cleft work and inserted as shown, when the stock 
is cut off above it in a line parallel with the cion 
and half an inch above it, wax is applied and the 
work is done. 

Grafting Wax. — For out door work 32 ounces 
resin; 14 ounces beeswax; and 7 ounces linseed oil. 
Melt together and bring to a heat, some above the 
boiling point for water, cool and use. Stone fruits 
are sometimes root grafted like the apple, and in 
that case they are waxed with a brush. This wax 
will be a little softer. For this add i more ounce 
of beeswax and another of oil. 

DOUBLE WORKING. 

Where it is desired to have a high headed tree, 
some of the objections to that form may be over- 
come by a process called double working. This 
consists of grafting the desired variety upon the 
straight stock of a tree one or two years old, pre- 
viously root grafted with the long cion and short 
root. In such cases the cion is set from 2 to 
4 feet above the ground, according to the fancy of 
the operator. 

The variety used for a stock is of the greatest 
importance, as it is found by long experimenta- 
tion that there are few suitable. Either the 
stock or the cion overgrow, and in some 
cases the tree becomes barren. There is no 
way of determining what stocks and cions are 
affinities except by experiment, and even those who 
have continued this system the longest and most 



PROPAGATION. 1 27 

persistently do not agree with each other, but in 
many cases flatly contradict each other. 

The object to be obtained is the putting such a 
stock or trunk under the tree as will be less liable 
to sun scald borers; etc., than the variety that is 
desired for fruit. 

Such trees are on trial at this station, but so far 
they have given no results either way, as they have 
been out but a few years. 

The only experience the author has ever had 
was in grafting the slow growing Tetofski upon 
the Transcendent Crab. In three years the cions had 
overgrown the stocks to such an extent that they top- 
pled over with their own weight. The growth habit 
of these two varieties was reversed when worked 
together, the rapid growing Transcendent nearly 
stood still while the dwarfish Tetofski made the 
most phenomenal growth. 

Being very desirous to make no mistake in this 
matter that is attracting so much attention at 
present, letters were sent out to many of the 
leading western horticulturists, asking for infor- 
mation on this and "top grafting," and from the 
answers received, as well as from my own experi- 
ence, I am of opinion that the whole matter of 
double working is unimportant, and that the 
results so far have not justified the claims or the 
expectations of its advocates. 

Those stocks that have proved the most congenial 
in the greatest number of cases are the Whitney 
No. 20, Hughes Virginia, and Yellow Siberian Crab. 



128 PROPAGATION. 

The best way to accomplish all that is hoped for 
from this system is to avoid the high trunk, and 
make a more nearly natural, low headed tree, and 
the next best is, if the high head must be had, 
some protection to the trunk as has been before 
described. • 

TOP GRAFTING. 

This is understood to apply to the practice of 
putting new heads of desirable variety upon 
established trees, hardy, but of an undesirable 
variety. Tender or half hardy varieties can be 
successfully grown in this way when they cannot in 
any other. This will be understood in a local 
sense entirely, for what is hardy in one place may 
be tender in another, and when we apply this to 
practice it is equivalent to saying that where a 
desirable variety cannot be grown in any other 
way it may be in this manner. 

If I were trying to grow an orchard north of lati- 
tude 45, and perhaps some lower than that, I would 
pursue this course, and with every assurance of 
success where such were possible. 

This consists of planting the hardy trees, root 
grafted on the short root and long cion method, 
and allowing them to stand till they have become 
thoroughly established, say three years or more, 
and then grafting or budding the branches to such 
varieties as the climate would justify, and this 
would be ascertained by investigating the orchards 
or trees in this vicinity. If it should be so far 
north that no trees were growing to guide I would 



PROPAGATION. 1 29 

take the "Iron Clad" list from some of the northern 
horticultural societies, say Duchess of Oldenburg, 
Wealthy, Iowa Blush, and perhaps some of the 
Russians. Of course our success will depend upon 
the hardiness of our stocks, for where Whitney No. 
20, and the Siberian Crabs, and Duchess cannot be 
grown we should not make the effort. 

The philosophy of this is, that as all trees are 
more tender when young than when matured and 
established, we pass over this period of youth 
practically by giving our tree age from the start. 
There is another very important consideration. 
All the very hardy or Iron Clad varieties have very 
strong and deep growing roots. The top or cion 
from which the tree is to be made entirely controls 
the form of the seedling roots. Not only the form 
but in a few years not at first it also determines 
their hardiness. As to form or habit of growth, if 
we graft in any manner, any number of 
Winesaps, Jonathans or Willowtwigs upon yearling 
apple stocks, we can in two years in most soils pull 
them up by hand, while the same number of Sibe- 
rian Crabs or Tetofskis will at the same age be 
found to have made a root system that would defy 
the united efforts of several men to dislodge them. 
The question suggests itself here, does the hardy 
tree make this strong hardy system of roots, or do 
the roots, having penetrated deeply into the earth 
where there can never be any lack of moisture, 
give the tree its ability to withstand all the strain 
that is ever put upon it ? Undoubtedly they work 



130 PROPAGATION. 

equally upon each other and in perfect harmony. 
Possibly if we could — which we cannot — put a 
mature Siberian top on Winesap roots, the tree would 
not be hardier than the Winesap. Nature has not 
made trees with low, spreading tops, and a shallow 
system of roots for very high latitudes, especially 
if, as in the northwest there is frequently too little 
rainfall. Now as it seems to be clear that a good, 
deep system of roots is essential to the maintaining 
of a tree in these trying conditions in its best 
health, and that nature is so perverse or persistent 
that she will not make such a system of roots 
under certain desirable varieties, we may take 
advantage of a little strategy to compel her to 
accept and wear the particular root system which 
she had made for quite another tree. 

After the stocks upon which we are to make 
this artificial tree have stood for three or 
four years, they will have extended their roots 
downward possibly twice as deep as the height 
of the tree, and we have accomplished all 
in this direction that any reasonable tree could 
ask or expect to grow upon, or any "whole 
rootist" or "unmutilated rootist" could demand. 

Any one who should, with the above only to 
guide, undertake this top working system, might 
easily make a failure. Nature is very persistent and 
apparently at times unreasonably obstinate. There is 
no theory or system of reasoning that will determine 
what stocks are suited to certain varieties but 
actual experiment. 



PROPAGATION. I3I 

There is another advantage to be gained by this 
system; many varieties first show signs of bark 
faihire in the intersections of the limbs with the 
trunks. By this system the forks are formed 
largely of the hardy stock which should be chosen 
with special care as to its behavior in this par- 
ticular. This is perhaps the most important gain 
of all. 

It may be well to drop a word of caution here ; 
this system is not commended for general practice, 
nor for extended planting, as, where conditions are 
so adverse to apple growing that they cannot be 
grown any other way, it will never be a source 
of profit to grow them in this way. It is only 
recommended for small home orchards in the far 
north, and it is believed that there will be a mod- 
erate success as grown in this way, when they 
would fail in the ordinary way of growing. The 
mere act of top grafting a tree does not add to its 
hardiness or longevity, but lessens it, as severe 
pruning would do, it is done for the sole purpose 
of passing the young tree over its infancy, where it 
is so liable to injury, placing it upon a deep 
system of roots already formed, and avoiding in a 
measure the danger of bark scalding at the larger 
forks, and the co7iversio7i of undesirable sorts into 
desirable ones. 

The trees mostly used in the north for a stock 
upon which to top graft are Hughes Virginia Crab, 
Whitney No. 20, Duchess, Minnesota Crab, 
and Haas. 



132 PROPAGATION. 

The following is the best list of cions to work 
upon these, so far as can be ascertained: 

Hughes Virginia. — Grimes Golden, Jonathan, 
Winesap, Golden Sweet, Baily Sweet. 

Whitney No, 20. — Grimes Golden, Wolf River, 
Northwestern Greening. 

Duchess. — Wealthy, N. W. Greening, Grimes 
Golden, Ben Davis, Red Astrachan, Fall Orange, 
Wolf River. 

Minnesota Crab. — Jonathan, Baltimore or 
Bethlehemite, Early Harvest. 

Haas. — ^Wealthy, Winesap, Wolf River, Red 
Astrachan, Baily Sweet and in favorable location 
the R. I. Greening. 

The Western Wild Crab {Pirus Prunifolid) makes 
a perfect stock for the Bethlehemite (Baltimore 
Red) and where that indigenous tree is growing 
wild it can with little labor be converted into a 
most valuable apple tree. 

The Wealthy is also used as a stock, but it is 
believed that where that tree succeeds well there 
is little use of top working it, as in those high 
latitudes it is a winter apple, but the Grimes 
Golden, Baily Sweet and Golden Sweet have been 
successfully grown on it. 

One of the best known of the Illinois horticul- 
turists reports success with the hardy Russians as 
stocks, but after thirteen years' experimentation on 
all stocks does not feel competent to send out a list 
having no doubts attaching to it. (J. V. Cotta.) 
The Hibernal. — This is used as a stock for the 



PROPAGAI'ION. 133 

Northwestern Greening and Seek-no-further, and 
is one of the best and hardiest of all the Russians. 
It is also known in different places as I^eiby, 
Ostrokof, Glass, Romna, Pendant Ear, Silken Leaf, 
Juicy Burr, etc. There may be slight variations 
in these but they are practically the same. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Landscape Gardening. 

WE can do little better than to touch upon the 
most common and practical points in this 
work. Elliot and Downing have covered the ground 
with extended works, and the reader is referred to 
them, especially the latter, for such instruction as 
cannot be given here. 

The principle objects that will the most please 
the eye in a landscape are green grass, trees, flowers 
and water. Hills and mountains are grand and 
impressive, but cannot be considered except as 
they are sometimes introduced in miniature, to- 
gether with grottos of rocks and earth, rustically 
arranged. 

To prepare the ground for the lawn, it is not 
best to try to save the natural sward by the intro- 
duction of proper grasses. The ground should be 
plowed carefully, and if not naturally fertile, it 
should be made so. Drag and plank and finish with 
the hand rake, at the same time working in blue 
grass seed liberally, and a smaller proportion of 
white clover. It will be two, and sometimes three 
years before a good sward is obtained, but during 
the time, such trees and shrubs as are wished can 
be established. 

135 



136 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 

The one great fault of amateurs is in over crowd- 
ing with these, which will destroy the pleasing 
effect, and hide such objects as it is desired to bring 
into prominence. 

There are two principle views of the lawn to be 
considered at every step. First the view from the 
residence, and second the view from the street or 
highway. The former is of the most importance. 
This is for our pleasure, the latter for the pleasure 
of the public, but both are important. 

If very large trees such as elms or hackberry are 
used, they should not be planted where they will 
obstruct the view, either in or out. For this pur- 
pose it is better to place them a good distance from 
the house with a view of trimming them up ulti- 
mately, so as to see under them. 

If the street is south or west, this might be 
necessarily varied for comfort in shading. The 
east is the best front where it can be so arranged. 
Ivarge trees, both evergreen and deciduous are 
necessary for a background, where they may be 
massed into something like the natural forest. It 
is another serious fault to put these large trees in 
quantity in the front, as the backgrou^id should be 
m the 7^ea7\ 

Another common error is interspersing varieties 
in straight rows. I have seen long rows of trees 
along the highway or streets in town, made of two 
different sorts, such as catalpa and box elder, 
alternated. This would suggest a regiment of 
soldiers with each alternate one wearing a different 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 1 37 

uniform. It will always displease the eye, though 
the observer may not be able to tell why it is so. 
A straight line is art, and to be pleasing it should 
be as straight and uniform as art can make it. 
Straight lines of trees are frequently necessary, 
especially in towns on division lines, where the 
grounds are not extensive enough to admit of 
curves, which are much more pleasing. The old 
fashioned stereotyped plan of planting a straight 
row of trees on either side of the walk, from the 
gate to the front door is inexcusable. It resem- 
bles nothing in nature, and has no significance in 
art, or if it has any it might be the suggestion that 
the proprietor might be in such condition as to 
enable him to find his front gate, but entirely 
unable then to find his door without the friendly 
assistance of these landmarks. 

Curved hedge rows, or curved walks are pleas- 
ing, but must be introduced with great care. 
They should not give the observer the impression 
that they are there for effect, but that they could 
not be avoided. Thus a tree can be placed in such 
a manner as to curve the path to avoid it, and 
another further on, changing the curve into an 
opposite direction. Curves are not pleasing if too 
abrupt. The most graceful and pleasing are those 
barely curved enough to catch the eye and destroy 
the impression that it was intended for a straight 
line, and a failure made of it. If shrubs or bushes 
of any kind are used for borders of walks, they 
should be low growing and uniform in height and 



138 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 

expression, and such as are beautiful at all times, 
whether in blossom or not, or they may be of such 
bulbs or tubers as bring early flowers and disap- 
pear for the balance of the season, to be replaced 
with verbenas, pansies, phlox, or other bedding 
plants. For the former tulips are excellent. 

Where shrubs or small trees with large leaves 
are grouped with others with smaller ones, put the 
coarse ones back of the others. For instance if we 
were to use a snow ball or lilac or both to group 
with Fl. Almonds or spireas, we would place the 
former side by side nearly at right angle to the 
point of view, and the finer ones near them, but 
closer to the observer. If the view were from two 
principle directions, then place more of the same 
style beyond them. 

Grouping, if correctly done, gives a pleasing 
effect. In this, uniformity of figures should be 
avoided. Give the appearance of a chance produc- 
tion. 

Evergreens are of the greatest importance for 
specimen trees. Unless the grounds are very large 
we should avoid the large coarse growing ones, 
like the Scotch pine. For large trees choose the 
Colorado silver spruce, called blue spruce, too, Picea 
pungens). It is the most beautiful of all, and very 
hardy. The Black Hills spruce, too, P. alba^ is 
beautiful, and the next to the piingens, the Nor- 
v/ay spruce east of the great divide between the 
great rivers is indispensable, but not so desirable 
on the Missouri slope. Douglass and Concolor 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 139 

spruce are very desirable for larger specimen 
trees. 

For smaller low growing specimens, the different 
arborvitaes, such as American, Globosa and Siberian 
are best. The Pyramidallis is, as its name implies, 
an upright grower, like the I^ombardy poplar. It 
is very hardy, holds its color good through the 
winter, and is very desirable for a striking object. 
In small lawns it is hardly necessary to say that 
the lawn mower should be kept in frequent use. 
In large grounds, trees and other obstructions 
should be arranged with a view of using the mow- 
ing machine. Not necessarily in straight lines, 
but at such distances apart that the machine can 
be operated. 

Do not obstruct the view to the street, or to any 
object of beauty, such as fountains, statuary, or to 
fine distant landscapes. Unsightly but necessary 
objects, such as outhouses, barns, cribs, etc., 
should be hidden by a judicious use of trees, or 
vines. 

In using the lawn mower, if some patches are 
left in various figures, such as circles, diamonds, 
stars, anchors, etc., they are very beautiful when 
the clover is in blossom. These are used to sur- 
round vases or statuary, or even trees that are 
trimmed so as to show the whole figure designed. 
Among the deciduous trees and bushes Catalpa if 
in sheltered locations. Balm of Gilead, Magnolia 
Acuminata (not very far north) and Bass wood some- 
times called Linn, areamong the best of the coarser 



140 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 

leaved sorts, while for the finer ones Cut leaved 
birch stands first, but the European white is also 
very good. The cherry and plum, and sometimes 
the Whitney Hislop and other crabs are introduced 
in large grounds with nut trees, butternut, walnut, 
hickory, etc. , for variety. For a large stately tree 
nothing equals the elm. 

There are a great variety of the spireas, but the 
Prunifolia and Van Houtii' are the only ones very 
desirable. The lilac, snow ball and flowering 
almond, Tartarian honeysuckle, and Mock orange, 
commonly called syringa, all have their places. 
The finest flowering tree of all the low growing 
ones is the prunus Trilobata, bearing dense masses 
of light red double flowers the size of a quarter. 

Among the climbers are the Red and Yellow 
honeysuckle, woodbine, wisteria, and clematis. Of 
the last named among the best are the Jackmanii, 
with flowers from 4 to 6 inches across and deep 
blue, and the J. Alba, much the same but the 
flowers are pure white. Both are perfectly hardy. 

Among the herbacious plants that are desirable 
are the peonias, bleeding heart or diacentra and 
the phloxes. These last have all the shades and 
bright colors of the Drummondi, but are perpetual 
and very free bloomers. 

Bulbs and tubers such as tulips, crocuses, hya- 
cinths and jonquills and many of the lilies, such as 
Tiger, both double and single, and the Japans, Gold 
banded and Ivancifolium rubrum and the little lily 
of the valley (which is not a lily at all) are all 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 141 

hardy and remain out over winter with slight or 
no protection. Then the gladiolas, dahlias, and 
cannas of the tender ones are easily grown and 
can be used to give the most pleasing effect. Do 
not forget the bed of pansies and verbenas along on 
the north side of the house. 

Among the best and most showy annuals are the 
Drummond phlox and poppies. Dark blue flowers 
do not attract attention and are not as pleasing on 
the lawn or flower garden as white, red, crimson, 
scarlet and yellow. 

There are hundreds of other good flowers and 
shrubs, trees, etc., more than those mentioned 
here, but with these alone together with the ever- 
greens described in their chapter, no one need want 
for material to make a good lawn and flower gar- 
den. A few trees, vines, shrubs and flowers well 
kept will attract attention and admiration more 
than a whole park of them in a badly arranged and 
dowdyish condition. 



CHAPTER X. 

Plums. 

WITH the exception of the grape there is no 
wild fruit so common to the Great 
Northwest as the plum. Like the grape it sub- 
mits readily to domestication and cultivation. 

Plums are classed botanically into three different 
species: Primus^ domestica^ P. Americana (or Can- 
adensis) and P. Chicasa. 

The first is the small plum and tree of the Old 
World, from which we have the class known as the 
Gage family, and will merit but little notice here, 
as they are almost if not quite unfit for the changed 
location from the more equable and moist cli- 
mate of Europe, to the more rigorous and dry 
climates to which this work is restricted. These 
fruits are grown largely in California, and on the 
Pacific coast in many places. They are also grown, 
but to a less extent, on the Atlantic coast, not so 
much on account of unsuitable climatic conditions, 
as to diseases which attack them there, principally 
the black knot or black wart. They consist of 
such varieties as Lombard, Yellozv Egg, Coe, Green 
and Purple Gage, Bradshaw, German Prune^ Ponds 
Seedliiig, Jefferson, Washington and many others. 

143 



144 PLUMS. 

This class is distinguislied readily from either of 
the other species by their larger and ranker growth, 
heavier shoots generally with a purplish cast. In 
leaf they are larger and thinner, inclined to be 
ruffly. The fruit is larger, and at times very large, 
approaching a moderate-sized peach, very hand- 
some and deeply creased or sutured. It is also 
another characteristic that in quality, especially 
for eating from the hand, it is inferior to many of 
our best select natives; and generally inferior for 
culinary purposes. Their size, great beauty and 
fair quality will, however, always make them 
deservedly popular where they can be successfully 
grown. 

Of the above, those varieties which are still kept 
upon many of the northwestern lists, and will suc- 
ceed better than the others, are Lombard, German 
Prune and Bradshaw. The causes of failure are 
generally that the tree is too tender to withstand 
our trying winters, and the wood becomes black- 
ened and brittle, so that a tree of considerable size 
will break off easily when the ;ihoots are growing 
vigorously. Even when this does not occur the 
fruit is easily spoiled by the curculio or gouger, 
and falls soon after the visits of those insects. It 
is also much subject to rot, which attacks the fruit 
just before ripening in small specks distributed 
over its surface, which expand till they include the 
whole surface. 

We have been particular in describing this class 
of plums, for the reason that so many who purchase 



PLUMS. 145 

trees are disappointed in the size and beauty of the 
fruit which their visions had pictured, and these 
visions, too generally aided by the overdrawn plates 
exhibited at the time the sale was effected. The 
question was frequently asked, "Why don't you 
raise and sell the large blue or purple plums such 
as we used to have at home ?" We are also told 
"Those plums we got of you are wild ones; I have 
much better growing along the creek." 

The above not only explains why these Gage 
plums are not handled, but there is another consid- 
eration; in quality and productiveness we have at 
least quite a few natives that are superior to the 
best of the foreign sorts, not only for eating from 
the hand, but will compare favorably tor can- 
ning. 

When we go to look for the "better ones growing 
along the creek," we don't find them. It is not 
impossible that some one may have them, as all the 
domesticated ones of this class have at one time 
been wild, or the product of a plum stone. In most 
cases they are chance seedltngs, found to have qual- 
ities superior to other seedlings, when they are 
named and propagated from, and are no more wild 
than the Rhode Island Greening or Swaar. The 
name is applied to them from their close resem- 
blance to the wild ones. 

The plum does not succeed so well upon high 
dry ground as in more moist places, hence we are 
more apt to find it along the creeks and in the 
cooler and rich moist grounds of the ravines; still 



146 PLUMS. 

it can be successfully grown where corn or small 
grain will make a good crop. Avoid the tops of 
hills or abrupt knolls, unless they are known to 
have a good, deep moderately rich soil, which is 
not generally the case. 

Plum trees are not much subject to diseases of 
any kind. It is generally only necessary to select 
good thrifty trees of good varieties, plant them 
well on good ground, cultivate them, keep off the 
worms that destroy the foliage, and nature will do 
the rest. 

There are about fifty varieties of the natives that 
are grown, and described by the different propa- 
gators, and nearly all have merit; but as there are 
so many so nearly like the others, it will only be 
necessary to describe as many as will ever be needed 
for home use or market. There is really about as 
little use in having a large variety of plums of the 
same general character, as there would be in hav- 
ing one similar of potatoes. Those below given 
are of value for all purposes, and any three or 
four will be varieties enough for the family. 

Desota. — Originated near the Mississippi river 
in Wisconsin ; is good size; from i to i^ inches; 
light mottled red on yellow ground; very product- 
ive; a good grower and succeeds in more localities 
than any of the others. 

Forest Garden. — Originated either near Council 
Bluffs or Cedar Rapids, Iowa; both are claimed. 
Fruit about same size as Desota, better in quality 
for dessert, but not so good a shipper, having too 



PLUMS. 147 

thin a skin. Tree a strong upright grower and 
perfectly hardy; and immense bearer. 

Hawkeye. — Origin, Crescent, Iowa. A trifle 
larger than either of the above; quality very good, 
if not best; color light mottled red on yellow ground; 
has a distinct suture, unlike any other purely 
American plum. Is very firm and a good market 
variety. 

Wyant. — Of Minnesota origin; medium to large; 
mottled red; and of the best quality. Tree a mod- 
erate grower. 

Weaver. — This is a perfect free-stone, which 
gives it its greatest value; but it is an excellent 
variety; very vigorous and productive. Originated 
near Cedar Rapids, Iowa; fruit uneven in size, the 
same tree bearing at the same time from very large 
to very small specimens, mottled dark red and 
shaped something like an almond; being thin and 
measurably pointed. Excellent quality for dessert. 

Wolf. — Origin, Iowa. Is as large grown here as 
any of this class, a dark or purplish red, and of fair 
to good quality. Is a free stone when entirely ripe. 

The above descriptions have been given from the 
behavior of the trees at this station, and it is be- 
lieved that any of them can be grown successfully 
throughout the State of Minnesota, and the greater 
part of North Dakota, where there is suflicient 
rainfall. The following list of the same class is 
from other responsible horticulturists who are 
familiar with them and can be relied upon. 

Cheney. — Of Wisconsin or Minnesota origin, light 



148 PLUMS. 

red, large to very large, a good shipper and com- 
mands a good price in market. In quality this has 
made two records, being classed by some as best 
while by others probably grown under different 
conditions, as "fair to good. '^ 

Rolingstone. — Originated on the Rolingstone 
river in Minnesota. Tree a strong grower and 
good bearer. Fruit large to very large, bright 
cherry red, good quality and good shipper. 

Vaji Buren. — This is another free stone, of most 
excellent quality, good size, and is a light yellow, 
sometimes slightly red when fully ripe. One of 
the best. 

Quaker. — Fruit large to very large, and very 
firm, not good for dessert but fair cooker. Is the 
most " meaty " of any of the Americana varieties. 

Harrison Peach. — This variety comes from the 
neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minn. Tree a rather 
spreading strong grower and good bearer. Fruit 
of medium size, oblong and good quality. Color, 
light red. Free stone. (Terry.) 

Spear. — or ^^Spear'^s Round? ^ This is one of 
the most valuable of all the plums for culinary uses. 
We have seen and eaten the fruit at the home of 
the originator, and procured our first cions there. 
It is an annual and immense bearer of red fair sized 
round fruit, which shows no astringency whatever 
when canned. 

The above are all of the American family and 
is the safest list for general planting, especially if 
in very high latitudes. 



PLUMS. 149 

Prof. Baily, of New York has made three sepa- 
rate lists of the Pmnus chicasa^ placing the Miner ^ 
Marianjia and Wild Goose as types of them. 

We are of opinion that this classification is apt 
to mislead rather tlian to guide, and shall consider 
them as they have always been heretofore classed 
as above. 

These plums are also indigenous to American 
soil so far as is absolutely known, though there are 
those who contend that they are of Spanish origin, 
and that they were brought here by the Spaniards 
in their invasion of Mexico, and from there have 
spread throughout the southern half of the United 
States, where they were first noticed, and where 
they are common now, growing wild as the Ameri- 
cana does in the north. 

The distinctive characteristics of this family are 
the long narrow leaf, resembling that of the peach, 
generally ruffled, glossy above and smoother than 
the Americana beneath; shoots very small and 
pointed, generally supplied with very thorny, sharp 
spurs, and a tendency to hold their foliage long 
after all others have cast their leaves in the fall. 

Some of these varieties are also remarkable for 
their long life and the great size that they attain. 
The fruit is generally either glossy red, or yellow, 
and not mottled with these colors like many of the 
northern natives. In quality, too, they are quite 
distinct, being more meaty and the pulp hanging 
tenaciously to the stone. As a class they are not 
as hardy as the P. Americana, but some of them 



150 PLUMS. 

can be grown any where in Nebraska and Iowa, 
and in many of the southern counties of Minnesota 
and South Dakota. 

There is also a belief among many excellent 
horticulturists that many of these varieties are self 
sterile, and cannot be grown successfully without 
the assistance of other strong pollenizers grown in 
the immediate vicinity. There is no doubt but 
this is the case at times, and in some seasons it is 
more marked than in others, but it is not so com- 
mon as it is generally believed to be, neither does 
it require the close proximity to the pollenizing 
parent that is taught by many. Bees and other 
insects which are very numerous at the time of 
blossoming are active agents in distributing this 
very fine powder to trees near or at a considerable 
distance. I have known the Russian Mulberry 
where a single tree stood over a mile from any 
others to bear a full crop of fruit. This shows to 
what a distance this pollen may be borne in the 
air. We could not attribute this to the action of 
insects, as the female has no perceptible blossom, 
and bees do not work on it, and it could not have 
been self-fertilized as it is a purely dioecious plant. 
The Miner phmi is a good illustration of this, but 
in another direction. It is well known that this is 
a fitful or spasmodic bearer. It never fails to load 
with bloom, but will bring a crop of fruit once in 
two or three and sometimes four years or more. It 
will be also remembered that when there is a good 
crop in one part of a given section, it is general 



PLUMS. 151 

throughout. This would not be the case if its 
sterility could be corrected by massing with other 
varieties. Its fruitfulness would then depend upon 
this intermingling, and not upon the peculiarities 
of certain seasons. 

But let this be as it may, there can be no harm 
in intermingling varieties in the row, but the 
massing in thicket form but a few feet apart for the 
])urpose of cross-fertilizing to produce fruitfulness 
is little better than a fad. 

The following is a list of the most commonly 
accepted valuable varieties of this class. 

Miner. — This is also known as the Hinkly, and 
has also many other names that are purely local and 
of no value here. The plum is too well known to 
require an extended description. It is as has been 
said before a shy or spasmodic bearer, varying greatly 
in this respect in different localities. This is 
much more the case while young than when it 
attains considerable age. It is especially remark- 
able for the great age and great size to which it 
attains, especially if on its own roots. Prof 
McAfifeesaid: "It is the only plum tree that will 
make saw logs. " I have seen these trees with a 
girth of trunk at the ground of 44 inches, and a 
spread of top of 30 feet. It is among the hardiest 
of this class and is a good and symmetrical grower. 
The fruit ripens among the very latest, sometimes 
being caught by earh' frosts. In quality so far as 
I have tested these plums, it stands first. Size of 
fruit about same as Desota or at times some larger, 



152 PLUMS. 

and very uniform. Color a deep cherry red. It 
has a tendency to crack open at the time of ripening 
if the weather is very moist. 

Wild Goose. — Believed to be the most popular of 
its class, but its value is in the more southern lati- 
tudes, being too tender for the north. Tree upright 
changing to spreading as it attains age^ quite 
thorny, and an early and abundant bearer. Fruit 
light red, size of Miner as grown in the south, but 
in the north is quite small. Ripens very early 
which gives it its greatest value, and is of very good 
quality when fresh from the tree, but when over- 
ripe is watery and insipid. 

Forest Rose. — Closely resembles the Wild goose 
but is more scarlet in color, later and of better qual- 
ity, especially as a dessert fruit. 

Robinson. — This according to Prof. Budd has 
been known as the Bassett and as this variety is 
frequently referred to as of merit, it is believed that 
this name is still used by many. The true Bassett 
plum is so poor, small and inferior in every way, as 
to be of no value, and the correction should be 
made for the reputation of this most excellent 
plum, the Robinson. Like the others, however, it 
it is not reliable very far north, but for this fault of 
tenderness, it would lead all the Chicasas. In habit 
it is almost a counterpart of the Pottawattamie, both 
in tree, leaf and fruit. The principal difference 
being in the color of the shoots, those of the latter 
being more brown, while the former are brighter, 
and have a pinkish cast. The fruit also ripens 



PLUMS. 153 

some earlier and is much handsomer and of better 
quality than the Pottawattamie. The first fruit 
ripens in this latitude about the first of August, but 
the picking season will last nearly through the 
month. The habits of growth of the trees are some 
different, the Robinson being more spreading. 
Its fault is in making bad forks if not closely 
watched. 

Maqtiokcta. — Originated near the river of that 
name in eastern Iowa, and is decidedly the best of 
all the Chicasas for canning. Fruit is much larger 
grown in central and southern Iowa than further 
north. Is supposed to be a seedling of the Miner, 
which it closely resembles. 

Milton. — New and perhaps the earliest variety 
in cultivation. Tree an upright and fine grower, and 
bearing large crops of large fruit of finest quality. 
Its large size and fine quality and appearance, and 
early season make this a valuable variety. Seed- 
ling of Wild Goose. (Terr}^) 

Charles Downing. — Another of the same origin 
as the last. Fruit very large, light red and of 
excellent quality. Tree rather spreading and 
very productive. 

Crescent City. — New. Tree very upright and 
handsome grower, and an immense bearer of med- 
ium sized fruit of fine quality. Color dark red, 
fine variety for market. Seedling of the Miner. 
(Terry. ) 

Hammer. — This is a new variety, the original 
tree of which has only fruited two years. Fruit is 



154 PLUMS. 

large; color pale yellow or whitish on the shady- 
side and bright red on the sunny side. It 
promises to be a very valuable variety. Tree is a 
fine, rather upright grower, and so far as tested, a 
good bearer. Fruit is of an excellent quality. A 
seedling of the Miner, though its broad and heavy 
foliage shows that it is crossed with some variety of 
the American family. 

Morernan. — This variety originated on the 
Atlantic coast and is possessed of some value. 
Fruit medium in size, of the brightest red, and is 
so glossy as to have the appearance of being var- 
nished. It is an immense bearer, and the fruit will 
keep for two weeks more after ripe. One of the 
latest varieties we have which adds to its value. 

The descriptions of the last five varieties named 
are from H. A. Terry of Iowa, who is as good 
authority on this fruit as any in the west. They 
have not yet been fruited at this station. 

JAPAN PLUMS. 

Much discussion is had upon the origin and 
value of these very interesting plums. My exper- 
ience so far with them is almost neutral. Trees 
have not had proper care, but have given strong evi- 
dence of great usefulness, though at present it is not 
advised to plant largely much north of central 
Iowa. The Burbank Ogon and Botan have been 
fruited, and while smaller than was anticipated are 
very handsome, and of good quality. 

Dr. Dennis, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has made a 



PLUMS. 155 

Specialty of them, and is very warm in their praise; 
says they have fruited full after twenty-six below. 
It is believed that they will be of great value in 
the south, and as far north as stated, but there is 
another possibility, perhaps probability, that they 
will make excellent fathers for seedlings from our 
natives, by cross-fertilization, and this is being 
practiced very largely in some parts of the south, 
especially by P. J. Berkmans, of Augusta, Ga. , and 
J. L. Normand of Marksville, La. 

But few varieties will be noticed, and those only 
which have been grown in the north and recom- 
mended by reliable growers. 

Abundance (Botan). — Trees strong, handsome 
upright grower, and early and abundant bearers. 
Fruit as grown here about i ^ inches in diameter, 
oblong, bright red with a heavy bloom. Flesh 
yellow, very sweet, rich and juicy. For eating 
from the hand it is excellent, but for culinary pur- 
poses it lacks acidity and tone. Best for dessert. 
Season, August. 

Burbank. — This is practically, both in fruit and 
tree like the foregoing, but the fruit is yellow and 
sweet, more globular, and much in quality like the 
first. Both these are hardy at Concord. Season 
late, July or early August. 

Satsjuna. — Tree a fair grower, but not as good 
as the others. Fruit is smaller but of good size, 
and a very small pit; purple to dark red in color, 
with a heavy bloom; flesh dark red with red juice, 
and very good quality. Season, late August. 



156 PLUMS. 

Ogon. — Is not more than hardy enough for 
southern Nebraska, and is tender and worthless in 
the northern part of the state. Fruit larger than 
the Botan, nearly round, or slightly flattened, 
smooth, bright golden-yellow and of best quality. 
Season, early August. 

There are many varieties listed that have not 
been tried sufficiently in the north to determine 
their value, such as Kelsey (tender), Simoni (worth- 
less), Willard (very early twenty-six Botan) Nor- 
mand, Chabot, Baily, Yellow Japan (said to be 
hardy at the north) Hattankin, Sweet Botan, Shira 
Shomo and others. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Peaches and Apricots. 

IT is believed that peaches can be grown success- 
fully and profitably as far north as the apple can, 
by giving winter protection. 

They are so grown near Scotland, S. D., and 
quite successfully still further north without any 
protection whatever. 

There are two ways of affording this protection, 
(i) by laying down and covering with earth and 
(2) by training on a low trellis made for the pur- 
pose, to be covered by litter and snow in winter; 
the latter is preferred. 

To lay them down it is necessary that they should 
be planted with this in view. Plant one year-old 
buds and instead of spreading the roots out in all 
directions, flatten them, say north and south, mak- 
ing them all lie east and west. It will be better to 
choose some spot for the orchard where it can be 
irrigated, to soften the ground and facilitate the 
the work of laying down. The ground being wet 
the tree is partially undermined both on the north 
and south side and the tree is quite easily crowded 
over to a horizontal position, where it is fastened 
bv stakes and covered, first with some coarse litter 



157 



158 PEACHES AND APRICOTS. 

and following with some earth and clods to keep 
it in its place. 

When taken .up early in May, the tree should 
not be raised to a perpendicular position, but only 
raised a few feet, as it will do as well and be much 
more easily put down the next fall. 

There will be a difference in the time to take 
the cover off in different latitudes. The proper 
time is when "there is the first indication of growth, 
which will be seen, as many of the twigs will be 
exposed. It is also well to place some litter under 
as well as over them to prevent the buds from rest- 
ing on the ground where they are apt to rot if soil 
is very wet. 

This process of covering can be repeated till the 
trees are five to eight years old and large enough 
to bear two or three bushels of fruit each. There 
is another method adopted by Peter M. Gideon by 
which he has been able to grow them successfully 
in Minnesota for many years. Prof Budd also 
recommends this plan. 

A tree of one year's growth from the bud is used, 
which will be from 3 to 4, and perhaps 5 feet high. 
In the fall this is trimmed up to a single stem; 
that is, all the side branches are cut off The tree 
is now laid down as has been directed, by softening 
the ground with water and partially undermining 
it, when it is covered as directed. The next spring 
the covering is removed, and a forked stake is 
driven over the trunk about midway to prevent 
this part of the tree from rising, when the top is 



PEACHES AND APRICOTS. 1 59 

raised in a curved position, and staked there where 
it is allowed to grow nearly naturally. 

The advantage in this plan is that the laying 
down each fall does not necessitate the disturbance 
of the roots, and the long curve, by partly bending 
and partly twisting will readily yield to pressure, 
and take a horizontal position. This may be 
repeated several years, and when too large to handle 
practically, one of the lower branches may be sub- 
stituted for the original tree, which will be cut 
away, and the same operation repeated with the 
new tree. 

To tram itpon a trellis. — Suppose we have a 
single row of trees along the east or south side of a 
grove, or other obstruction that will catch snow, 
and if by a grove far enough from it so that the 
roots will not reach out and rob our trees. 

Set a row of posts with the row and about 2 feet 
from it, and 16 feet apart. Set another row paral- 
lel with the first, and about 6 feet from it. These 
posts may all be common fence posts, but may be 
cut in two in the middle, if of good length, so that 
when set they will stand up about 18 inches. Nail 
some 2 by 4 strips along the tops of these, edge up, 
and it will be well to support them in the middle 
also, by nailing on a piece of board there, one end 
resting upon the ground. 

This done we will staple a smooth fence wire to 
one corner and take it across and back, stapling at 
each side, till the whole frame is covered, and the 
wires being in the middle about a foot apart. This 



l6o PEACHES AND APRICOTS. 

is to hold the trees under, and in place of this wire 
any pieces of boards may be used, but the wire is 
cheaper and better. If the wire is used it will be 
necessary also to prevent spreading in the middle to 
get some long light poles, or ' ' bats ' ' from the lum- 
ber yard and staple them on midway between our 
stringers, and running parallel with them. The 
trellis is now done and the next and last operation 
is bending the trees down and thrusting them 
under it. 

The peach is a rank grower, and if no further 
attention is given it, it will soon grow up through 
this trellis to such a height as to prevent covering 
it practically. It will be necessary frequently dur- 
ing the summer to look them over and bend back 
and under the wires such shoots and branches as 
have grown long enough to admit of it. A little 
labor applied at odd times during the summer will 
keep these perfectly under subjection so that few 
shoots will be above the trellis. 

In this position covering is an easy matter. A 
good load of straw from the machine will cover 
twenty to thirty trees. If they should get in addi- 
tion to this a good covering of snow, which in this 
position is quite likely, it will add to the probabili- 
ties of a crop, though there is little danger of 
failure without it, even less than there is in the 
peach countries, as there are always enemies to the 
peach there that we shall not meet here. 

Should the trees set very full of fruit it is advis- 
able to thin it out considerably, and we shall get 



PEACHES AND APRICOTS. l6l 

more fruit m weight, and of a much better quality 
than if they are all allowed to mature, and the 
strain will be less upon the trees. 

The best ground for this orchard will be the 
highest practicable location that the place affords, 
and the ground should not be very rich . In time, 
if fruit is not up to size the ground can be fertilized 
by a liberal top dressing of well rotted stable 
manure. 

The hardiest and most successful varieties for 
this system will be the Alexander, Wager, Hill's 
Chili, Tong-Pa, Kilbourn and Salway. The Pop- 
lar is a very hardy peach, but small and of only 
fair quality. 

The trees may be planted in this manner 6 to 8 
feet apart, and if in course of time they become too 
much crowded, each alternate one may be cut 
away, but they will bear several good crops at this 
distance. 

It is believed that the peach will, in the near 
future, be grown successfully and profitably as far 
north as 42, and without protection of any kind, 
giving a crop once in two or three years^. They 
have been grown here at times, and a few specimens 
of the Poplar were grown in 1890 after the intense 
cold of January in that year, in which the mercury 
sank to 34 below, and at several times in the same 
winter it was more than 20 below. It is a singular 
fact that the same cold wave that gave that very 
low temperature Iiere gave the same at Wymore, 
Nebraska, which is nearly to the Kansas line. The 



1 62 PEACHES AND APRICOTS. 

peach makes its wood and fruit buds the same 
year, and if the wood or main branch is not killed 
we can depend upon the buds every year, and 
when the season is favorable a crop of fruit will 
follow. 

It is conceded that it is not necessarily the degree 
of cold that kills the buds. Under some circum- 
stances they will go safely through more than 20 
below, while at other times, as in the present win- 
ter, from 16 to 18 has destroyed them. Just what 
the conditions are that make such a difference in 
the ability of these buds to withstand this cold at 
one time and to be destroyed by a much lesser 
degree at another time, is not positively known, 
consequently we do not know what we should try 
to supply. I have noticed in examining these buds 
in different winters that when the buds in the fall 
are very solid and appear to be well stored with 
starchy or glutinous appearing matter they are in 
condition to go through the winter better than 
when they seem dry and husky. In such condi- 
tion as this they kill at a not very low temperature. 
The same is true of the cherry and apricot. It is 
believed that a lack of moisture in the earth 
at the time the buds are maturing is the one 
great cause of their weakness, and if we could con- 
trol this, which we frequently can, we shall have 
reduced the risk from this source to its lowest terms. 

In this connection let us refer to "Adaptabilty of 
Varieties, etc.," in chapter 2. 

Natural trees from pits planted where they are 



PEACHES AND APRICOTS. 163 

wO grow, have proved, as a class, much hardier 
both in tree and fruit bud than the budded varieties. 
For this reason we recommend those who live 
much north of the peach belt, to plant pits from 
northern grown fruit. There is little loss, even if 
no fruit whatever is produced, while the chances 
are that the little ground occupied by the trees will 
at frequent periods give good returns for its use. 
If nothing better the trees will be worth their room 
for firewood, as the peach will make it nearly as 
rapidly as any of the trees that are planted with 
that express object. 

Plant in the fall as soon as the fruit is borne, 
plant in rows, 6 to 8 feet apart, and the pits a foot 
or more in the rows. The first winters they should 
all be covered, after that let them try which has 
the best right to life, and the weak ones will be 
cut out from year to year and in this way those 
remaining will be thin enough, perhaps, to bear 
several crops with little attention. 

To illustrate this: A Mr. Joseph Kauffman, who 
lives in Township 98, Range 55, in Turner Co., S. 
D., planted a number of peach pits from Nebraska 
grown fruit in about the year 1881, and in 1891 
had a crop of from 8 to 10 bushels, and had fruit 
for his family in '92 and '93, and some at various 
times previous to this. 

When we consider that these trees went through 
more than 30 degrees below in the winter of 1889- 
90 and bore this fine crop of fruit in 1891 ; it seems 
little less than marvelous. 



164 PEACHES AND APRICOTS- 

There is one variety that reproduces itself 
true to variety from seed, and this is the tree, 
if any, that will in the indefinite future, as 
prophesied by one of our best horticulturists, be the 
one that will " Grow in the north, side by side 
with the apple." This may seem improbable, but 
we must, from the facts we already have, admit 
that it is easily possible. 

The variety referred to is the Wager and the 
pits will in a year or more undoubtedly be upon 
the market. 

RUSSIAN APRICOT. 

In 1890 the Iowa Horticultural Society passed 
the following resolution unanimously: That the 
Tree Blackberry is a fraud, and the Apricot, 
Prunus Simoni, Salome apple and Keiffer pear are 
too tender for general planting in Iowa. 

As a whole little exception can be taken to this, 
but the Apricot (Russian) deserves a little better 
fate than to be ranked with the balance of the list. 
Even in this the resolution was judicious at that 
time, as varieties had not, and have not yet even, 
established a positive character by which they could 
be fairly judged. 

Our first experience with these trees dates back 
to 1885, when several seedlings were planted, and a 
list of named varieties were top worked on the 
Miner plum. These varieties were Alexander, 
Catharine, Alexis, Budd, Gibb and Nicholas. 
These have become large trees, but have only borne 



PEACHES AND APRICOTS. 165 

an occasional specimen of fruit. From this it is 
believed that the plum is an uncongenial stock for 
the apricot. To add to this testimony, many of 
these varieties budded at the ground surface on the 
common wild plum stocks grow finely till an inch 
or more in diameter when they broke off under the 
strain of a moderate wind, as directly as though 
cut off with a saw. It is surmised that the apricot 
is condemned too soon, and more for the reason 
that it is worked on an uncongenial stock than from 
reason relating specially to the tree itself From 
the first its hardiness of tree has been apparent. In 
this it is the equal of our ordinary apple list at least 
such as Winesap, Ben Davis, Jonathan, etc. The 
trouble seemed to be in tenderness of fruit buds 
v/hich killed usually at from 18° to 20° below, 
about the same as the peach. 

In the winter of 1891-2 there was a degree of 
cold most uncommon here of 34° below. At the 
time of the next thaw following this it was discov- 
ered, greatly to the surprise of all, that the fruit 
buds were very little injured, and some fine fruit 
was grown the following summer. 

This effectually closed the argument of tender 
fruit buds. 

There is upon the ground of this station one 
seedling apricot eight years from the seed, that 
bore about one bushel of fruit the past summer 
(1893), after a hard, dry winter in which 28° below 
was recorded. This tree is 15 feet high, has a 
spread of 12 feet and a circumference of 22 inches. 



1 66 PEACHES AND APRICOTS. 

The fruit is greenish yellow, about i % inches in 
diameter, free stone and very juicy and sweet. It 
is a fine dessert fruit. It is believed that there is 
no established variety of this tree that can be safely 
recommended at present for this latitude, but as 
there are many not tried here, this may be an erron- 
eous conclusion. 

We advise every one to plant the pits, or one or 
two year old seedlings, and, unless all indications 
so far given by this tree are delusive and decejDtive, 
we shall soon have a fruit here that will solve the 
problem, "The Peach for the North," whichisatthe 
present time enlisting the best efforts of some of 
our best horticulturists and experimenters. 

When we succeed in growing the Russian apri- 
cot as far north as the apple is grown, there will be 
little; or at least less need of the peach, for it will 
take its place for most purposes. 

Too much importance cannot be attached to this 
matter. This fruit will in the next ten years make 
for itself a permanent place in the list of hardy 
northern fruits. 

The pits can be bought at many of the larger 
seed stores, and can be planted either in fall or 
spring. If in the spring, they should be cracked 
carefully, and planted about 2 inches deep. If 
planted in the fall before drying, and the ground is 
moderately moist, they will burst the shell by the 
action of the frost. 

The kernel of the nut or pit is equal to the almond 
in quality, only being smaller. 



PEACHES AND APRICOTS. 1 67 

There is a variety originated with Budd, that it 
may be well to refer to, named by him Shense, but 
also called Acme. 

The originator of this variety says it is " From 
seed sent me by N. W. Clima. It is the only hardy 
apricot I know of, that bears a large fruit of excel- 
lent quality. The tree is hardier than any of the 
Chicasa plums." There is little doubt of the accu- 
racy of the above, but the fruit buds may prove 
tender. Again, it is not certain, nor even probable, 
that the trees propagated from this will be as hardy 
as the original seedling. The same is true of many 
other fruits, and especially apples. 

There are many that arc perfect "Iron Clads" 
when standing as natural seedlings, that are worth- 
less propagated by any known method. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Cherries. 

CHERRIES are divided into two general classes; 
sweet and sour. The former comprise the 
Mazzards, Hearts and Bigareaus, and, as they do not 
succeed in the west will not be considered, except 
to make the remark that in rare cases the Gov. 
Wood has produced some fruit. This belongs to 
the Bigareaus, is light greenish in color and faintly 
blushed. It is nearly sweet. I have not tested 
this variety in northeastern Nebraska, but have not 
heard of its succeeding anywhere in the state. In 
quality it is better for all purposes than the Dukes 
or Morellos, having acid enough to make it a good 
culinary fruit. 

Prof. Budd says 26 Oriel is a sweet cherry from 
Central Asia and will thrive and fruit anywhere 
the Richmond will do well. It is on the grounds 
at this station but not yet sufficiently tested to give 
an opinion. 

The sour cherries that are commonpin the west 
are among the surest of all the orchard fruits, and 
require the least attention. If there is such a thing 
as the lazy man's fruit it is the sour cherry. This 
tree will succeed where the apple will not thrive 

169 



170 CHERRIES. 

well. In the shifting and drifting sands of the 
northwest " Sand Hills" it is almost as snre a crop 
with a fair share of attention as their native sand 
cherry. 

What has been said under the heads of ' ' Orchard 
Management" and "Making the Orchard" will 
apply to the cherry as well as to the apple, with this 
exception: they may be planted much closer, say 
for most varieties 8 feet north and south by 16 feet 
east and west. Should the trees after years inter- 
fere too much each alternate one may be removed, 
but this will rarely become necessary. 

The cherries as well as all other stone fruit is 
propagated by budding. They are mostly worked 
on the Mahaleb stock. In planting a cherry there 
will be a necessity of observing where the point of 
union is between the stock and the bud, or tree 
that has grown from it, and set the tree a little 
below that point. The Mahaleb cherry, while 
very hardy in root or stock when below ground, is 
tender when exposed above. It is frequently the 
case that this wood is left several inches above the 
ground surface and in such cases in a severe winter 
it is apt to kill and leave the tree worthless, with a 
good root and perfect top, but a dead section of a 
few inches near the ground. In such cases the 
tree will leaf out and blossom weakly, but soon 
dries up, as its food is cut off both from above and 
below. 

There is another point here to be remembered 
also. If the tree is planted so deeply that a con- 



CHERRIES. 171 

siderable portion of the variety is below the ground 
surface, it will strike roots from this wood and 
from these roots suckers will grow up around the 
tree and will in time spread to great distances and 
make a forest of brush that is good for nothing, 
and the parent tree is robbed of its support and is 
of little value either. These sprouts of course are 
the same as the variety from which the roots have 
spread, and if transplanted and the sprouts from 
these kept down, the trees will be of considerable 
value, but not as good bearers as when on Mahaleb 
roots, and on the whole they are very much of a 
nuisance, on account of their sprouting proclivities. 

The cherry should be headed back very severely 
at planting. If the whole top, or a great portion 
of it is left, the tree will seldom succeed. It will 
start to grow almost as soon as it is given the light 
and warmth, and the owner is apt to think that it 
is a success when in about a week he will observe 
that his tree is dying, and will be at a loss to know 
the reason. Practically the reason is that he did 
not head it back as directed, but the explanation of 
the effect is that the buds burst into leaf before the 
roots had commenced to grow, and the evaporation 
above could not be supplied from below fast enough 
to maintain its water supply. 

In ' 'heading back' ' do not cut off two year old 
wood, but only that of the last year's growth, and 
cut from two-thirds to three-fourths of each of 
these shoots off. 

It is necessary, in order to get the best results to 



1/2 CHERRIES. 

keep the trees cultivated and in good growing con- 
dition. Weeds and grass should not be allowed to 
mat under them. A good tool to work the ground 
in this or any other orchard is the disc harrow. It 
keeps weeds down; does not ridge up to the trees, 
and keeps the ground loose and friable. 

On poor or moderately thin soils it will be well 
to feed occasionally. To do this spread the surface 
with fine stable manure, and leave it there. The 
roots will find it all. Do not undertake to plow it 
under. 

If your trees are on a piece of very good ground 
they will not need this for many years if ever, and 
if over fed there is danger of injury to the trees. 
On the Missouri drift soils, and on the higher lands 
the cherry will be productive for about twenty 
years; but on the black soil on the Mississippi 
slopes, about half that time is their average life. 

In making orchards of mixed fruits, where there 
has been in some cases a failure on account of the 
soil being clear sand, there has never been a failure 
of the cherries especially, and the plums generally. 
Both thrive well in the sandiest of lands. 

Varieties — will be described first in their order 
of value for all purposes. 

Early Richmond. — Tree a rapid spreading grower, 
forming a symmetrical, nearly round or slightly coni- 
cal head, is a very early and prolific bearer; fruit a 
light red, usually borne in pairs, is very juicy and 
rich. The stem adheres so firmly to the pit 
or stone that with care the fruit may all be gath- 



CHERRIES. 173 

ered, leaving the stems and pits still adhering to 
the tree. This cherry succeeds under more unfav- 
orable circumstances than any of the others. 

English Morellos.—lr\ habit of growth much like 
the Richmond, but slower, and ultimately makes 
heavier branches and a larger tree. This tree may 
be distinguished from the former while dormant by 
its shorter growth of shoots, and its larger and 
blunter fruit buds. It does not come into full 
bearing quite so quick as the Richmond, but 
becomes equally as good a bearer. Fruit is one- 
third larger than Richmond, and from three to five 
weeks later. Even when ripe it may safely be left 
upon the trees for two weeks more with improve- 
ment. In color it is a very dark red becoming 
nearly black when fully ripe, and very rich, meaty, 
flesh slightly astringent, and with a very small pit. 
One of the recommendations of this fruit is that the 
birds seldom molest it. It seems to be a little too 
sour for them. For culinary purposes this is the 
best of all the sour cherries. 

Osthewi. — There are several varieties of the cherry 
called by this name. There is but one genuine, 
though the others have more or less merit. It is 
dwarfish in tree, and like the most of the Russians 
or North German cherries, is more like an over- 
grown bush than a tree. It is more in tree and 
fruit like the English Morello than the Richmond, 
although not so good a grower, and finer limbs and 
twigs, and more upright, but still a spreading habit. 
It blossoms the earliest of any of the cherries, and 



174 CHERRIES. 

will at times be caught by a late frost. (It is a 
strange fact, however, that in the spring of '91 we 
had a frost so severe as to form ice the thickness of 
window glass while these trees were in full bloom 
and they were not injured, but bore a full crop of 
fruit. This will seldom occur.) When in blossom 
the tree is like a snow bank, almost purely white. 
Fruit size of Early Richmond or a trifle smaller; 
ripens between the two first described, or but little 
later than the Richmond; is very dark purple and 
very much better and sweeter than either of the 
others described. 

Late Richmond. (Kentish, or Late Kentish). — 
This is regarded as next in value. Tree better 
grower than either of the others, and more upright. 
Fruit very closely resembles the Ostheim, only 
lighter red. Quality about the same, or a little more 
acid. Its time of ripening is in this latitude July 
10 to 25. 

With the above varieties where they will succeed, 
it is not plain what will be needed of a much larger 
assortment, and consequently there will be no 
further practical need of describing them. The list 
that is still kept up by the western propagators 
and which are recommended by many would be 
taking them in their order of value: Montmorency^ 
Dyehouse^ Olivet^ Riene^ Hortense^ and Belle Mag- 
nifiqne. It is not thought that these will be of 
value north of latitude 41 which is about the mouth 
of the River Platte. Below this line in some places 
the Montmorency is considered only second in 



CHERRIES. 175 

value to the Early Richmond. These are all grown 
in different parts of the northwest, but if they 
succeed generally, they are not better than those 
above described. 

There is another list of cherries belonging to the 
same families as above claimed to be much more 
hardy, and to be capable of profitable production 
much farther north than the others. They are known 
as Russians, and are peculiar to that country and 
to northern Germany. Many of these are upon the 
grounds of this station but have not been suffici- 
ently tested as yet to warrant a conclusive opinion. 
The list will be that recommended by reliable 
horticulturists of the different northwestern states, 
who have made a study of them and are best quali- 
fied to speak for them. 

There are growing at this station, including the 
list given below, eighteen varieties, all of which 
have produced a few specimens, and all seem to be 
closely allied to the Richmond and Morello, and in 
time of ripening, color and quality fluctuate 
between these two sorts, but some of them are of 
slightly better quality. They are all hardy at 
Concord. What experience we have had confirms 
the reports of their value over a wide range of 
country, especially in the north. 

Given in the order of their value for all pur- 
poses: Brussalaer Braune^ Oriel ^j, Lutovka^ 
Griotto dii Norde^ June Amarelle^ Kings Amar- 
elle^ George Glass^ Besarabian^ SJiadoiu Amarelle^ 
Oriel 2y^ Spate Aniarelle and Shubianka, 



176 CHERRIES. 

Giving them in the order of their ripening we 
shall have: Oriel 2j^ June A., Kmgs A.^ Bruss- 
alaer Draune^ Lutovka^ Griotte dii Norde^ Oriel 
^7, George Glass^ Spate A.^ Shadow A., and Skzi- 
bianka. 

A description of the last named is given from 
Prof. Budd of Iowa. "Still another class of late 
dwarf cherries will prove of value in the dry por- 
tions of northwest Nebraska. This is represented 
by our Shubianka and Oriel. They form bushes 
rather than trees, and bear finely when only 3 or 4 
feet high. The leaves are small but firm; the 
twigs small — too small for grafting; and the habit 
is that of a large currant bush ; but the fruit is as 
large as the Early Richmond, with very small pit, 
firm, dark colored flesh, colored juice, dark purple 
skin, and very mildly sub-acid when ripe. These 
bud very nicely on the Bird Cherry (Pritnus Penn- 
sylvanica) and I think will do as well on the Dwarf 
Mountain Cherry (Prunus Pumilld). On these 
stocks they would stand on the sandy lands of 
northwest Nebraska and southeast Wyoming." 

Sand Cherry (Prunus pumilld). — This is found 
growing wild in great profusion in the northern 
and central parts of Nebraska, and generally over 
South Dakota. Its habitat appears to be the sands, 
and poorest lands, but does not take unkindly to 
good soil and cultivation. It grows from i to 2 or 
3 feet high, branching out into a strong bush like 
the black currants; is perfectly hardy as far north 
as any one will care to grow fruit of any kind, and 



CHERRIES. 177 

very productive, though in the richer soils it is 
somewhat less so than in those more natural to it, 
the sands. 

The fruit is borne on stems like the cultivated 
varieties, grows frequently to the size of the Early 
Richmond, and is nearly black. It is astringent 
uncooked, but loses this generally when so treated. 

This is recommended for a stock upon which to 
work some of the Russian varieties, and it may be 
a success for this, as the buds take readily, but we 
think the principal value of this very odd freak 
will be recognized for its own fruit, which is suc- 
ceptible of improvement to almost any degree. If 
it is not improved beyond what it is now-which is 
improbable — it will still command the attention of 
northwestern planters and nurserymen, as the fruit 
in many cases is really good and brings a good 
price in the market. It buds readily on our 
native plums making a hardy, graceful weeping 
tree that is very fruitful. 

Choke Cherry. — Here is another fruit that should 
not be neglected much longer. Like the foregoing 
it is entirely hardy in the extreme north, but it is 
more dwarfish in these higher latitudes. It is also 
astringent, which is relieved by cooking. 

The tree grows to about 8 or 10 feet in height, 
under favorable circumstances, but is more com- 
monly found little more than half that. 

The fruit is borne in racemes, like the black 
cherry, and can be grafted or budded upon it, but 
probably not upon the sand cherry. It is light 



178 CHERRIES. 

and sometimes dark crimson when fully ripe, and 
at times neariy black, and I have seen specimens 
that would measure ^ inch in diameter and almost 
free from astringency. Those who have the oppor- 
tunity should choose the pits from these best varie- 
ties and plant, and by selecting and continuing we 
may get a fruit that will rival or surpass the Dukes 
and Morellos. The fruit when cooked has a pecu- 
liar nutty and aromatic flavor that is pleasing to all. 
The tree is very ornamental, always standing 
erect with straight smooth stems, beautiful heavy 
blunt leaves, and when in blossom it is very orna- 
mental, and very fragrant. Its weak point for the 
lawn is its tendency to spread by suckering. This 
is not the Choke cherry of botany which is P, Vir- 
gmiana^ this being P. demisa. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Small Fruits. 

STRAWBERRIES. 

SOME one has said: "Doubtless God could have 
made a better fruit than the Strawberry, but 
doubtless God never did." Best of all, it can 
probably be grown through more latitude than any 
other fruit. Growing as it does so near the ground 
it is easily covered, and in this condition the sever- 
ity of the winter has but little effect upon it. It 
can almost be said to thrive wherever wheat can 
be successfully grown. 

The person who is to grow strawberries, or any 
of the fruits that will be described in this chapter, 
for market, on an extended scale will provide him- 
self with some of the many works devoted specially 
to their culture; but as this is for the home and 
home maker, we can only give such directions as 
will be necessary for his guide to this end. 

These plants are of two general classes; Stami- 
nate and Pistilate. The former are bisexual, hav- 
ing both stamins and pistils, and require no other 
than their own pollen to produce fruit; while the 
latter have only the pistils or female organs and 

179 



l8o SMALL FRUITS. 

require a staminate variety near them for this pur- 
pose. (See Fig. i, page 87.) 

As "Nature abhors self-fertilization" it is found 
that the results are not so good where we rely upon 
the former alone as where both are mingled. These 
words are abbreviated by the use of ' 'S' ' for the 
former and "P" for the latter, and are generally 
used in the proportion of two of the pistilates to 
one of the staminates. They may be mingled in 
the same row for home use, but for market the 
rows are alternated, in order to keep the fruit 
separate which adds to its appearance. It is also 
recommended that the same rule shall be followed 
for the home as well. Try to forget that there is 
to be a "strawberry bed" but plant in long rows. 
This is not so necessary in town, in small gardens 
as in the country where there is supposed to be 
more room for this purpose, and the object is to 
save hand labor by using the horse and cultivator. 
(This will apply equally as well to all such veget- 
ables as are usually grown in "beds".) 

Select a good piece of rich ground that is not 
foul with weed seed, and has not been manured 
recently with cow manure, as it is apt to be full of 
white grubs, which are very destructive to the 
plants. Plow it deeply and carefully to turn under 
all trash upon the top that may contain foul seed, 
and smooth with the "planker" or clod crusher, 
one of the cheapest and best of all the farm imple- 
ments. The ground being smooth and in the best 
possible condition, stretch a line across and walk 



SMALL FRUITS. l8l 

back on it which will furnish sufficient guide for 
the planter, with no line in his way. Lay off all the 
ground in this way, and we are ready to plant. 

If both sexes are to be used, plant the Stami- 
nates in the first row and follow with two rows of 
the Pistilates and repeat till all are planted. We 
have found the spade to be the best tool to do this 
with. A man goes before, walking backward, and 
pressing the spade into the ground draws it back 
till there is sufficient room between it and the wall 
of earth back of it to insert the plant. The roots 
must be spread out fan shaped, and the plant placed 
as near as may be in a natural position. This is 
done by an assistant, and as the spade is withdrawn, 
the man will with his foot press the ground from 
him and downward till it is firm about all the roots. 
This is sometimes done by the assistant with the 
hands. It matters not if it is done well and no 
cavities left about the roots. Set about i foot in 
the row. 

The plants may be carried in a shallow vessel, 
sometimes water is kept in it but this is not neces- 
sary, and makes the roots harder to separate. Never 
wet the crown of the plant before setting. If they 
are dry when received, wet the roots only, and 
especially if the weather is very dry, clip off most 
of the large ' leaves with knife or scissors before 
planting. This may generally be done while they 
are in the bunch. 

Strawberries should be cultivated often and the 
ground kept not only free from weeds but in a good 



1 82 SMALL FRUITS. 

friable condition. Cnltivate once a week and 
always after a rain as soon as the ground is in just 
the right condition. 

The matted row is the best system for home cult- 
ure. This consists in allowing the runners to root 
along^ the line till thev have fonned a close row of 
from 12 to 15 inches wide. Siicli afield is good for 
about three years, when there will be a decrease in 
the size and quantity of fruit. 

To renew this, there are several ways. One of 
the best is to let the runners go free the third year, 
then in July after all the fruit has been gathered, 
mow the whole as if it were a meadow and when 
dry burn it off. This will not hurt the young 
plants, and is generally practiced }'early by some ol 
our best growers. The next year the cultivator 
will be used to plow up the old rows, keeping the 
new for the succeeding crops. 

During the summer mow some prairie grass 
before it has matured any seed and let it cure in the 
cock, for winter covering. Do not cover till the 
ground is frozen slightly. These plants will grow 
up to this time and if covered before growth has 
stopped they will smother out. It is generally 
enough to cover till all plants are out of sight, but 
more will do no hurt. This material will not blow 
off easy, but if there is danger of it a few corn 
stalks or other heavy matter may be scattered upon 
the covering. 

There is a time when the first fruit commences 
to color that the plants require water to produce a 



vSMALL FRUITS. 1 83 

good crop. If there is no rain at about this time, 
and the beds can be irrigated from some well tank 
or otherwise it will assure the ripening of the crop. 
Sometimes a plantation may be located with this in 
view, placing it on ground near to and lower than 
the water tank. 

After the first year the field is not cultivated till 
the fruit is picked, then it is kept in good condi- 
tion by cultivating and pulling the weeds or mow- 
ing and burning as above, following with the cul- 
tivator. Should there not be sufficient rubbish 
upon the ground to burn rapidly it will be well to 
scatter on a thin coating of straw. 

A fair yield of strawberries is about 2,000 quarts 
to the acre though there are records of 200 bushels 
or over 6,000 quarts, the Crescent and Warfield 
No. 2 having given the highest amounts. Both 
are pistilates, and fertilized with Capt. Jack, Piper 
or Jessie. 

A few only of the best varieties will be de- 
scribed. 

Beder Wood^ S. — Where one does not wish to 
take the trouble of arranging a plantation with 
both sexes this is the best variety for the Missouri 
valley, and gives universal satisfaction. It is a 
good pollenizer, and can be used with any other 
variety blooming at the same time as a "help 
meet." It is especially good with the Warfield No 
2. Light red, conical, early, large to very large, 
good quality, and fair shipper; makes runners very 
freely and is very productive. 



1 84 SMAI.L FRUITS. 

Jessie^ S. — Dark red, conical, medium to late, 
larger than above and of better quality, not so good 
a shipper and not so productive, though in the 
Mississippi valley it is considered one of the best. 

Parker Earle^ S. — Named in honor of Mr. 
Earle of Texas, who originated it. It is one of the 
most promising of the newer sorts, and has become 
standard with many of our best growers. 

Ivike the Jessie it ripens uniformly and colors all 
over alike. It is claimed to have produced 12,000 
quarts to the acre. In color and size much like the 
B. Wood, but ripens later, and is a better shipper. 

Capt. Jack^ S. — This is one of the older tried 
sorts, and is very good, and can be used with good 
effect as a fertilizer of most of the desirable varie- 
ties. Is dark crimson, medium size, very good 
quality, an excellent shipper, but not as prolific as 
the B. Wood or Earle. As it cannot be expected 
that the plant which furnishes its own pollen can 
have the ability to also compete with those females 
who have only the fruit to produce, we intersperse 
these as has been described, and the following lists 
is believed to be sufficient for all purposes. 

Warfield^ P. — The only berry that has been able 
to dislodge the Crescent in productiveness, and as 
it is of better quality it is for all purposes, where it 
has been tried, its superior. Deep red, colors all 
over, very conical, medium to large, and holds out 
in size well to the last picking. This and the B. 
Wood will make an excellent combination for all 
purposes. 



SMALI. FRUITS. 185 

Crescent^ P. — Too well known to need descrip- 
tion. It has a place in all the large growers plan- 
tations, and is a most excellent and very prolific 
variety. Quality is only good. Its principal merit 
is in its productiveness and shipping qualities. Is 
fertilized by Jessie and Capt. Jack. 

Bitbach No. j, P. — This is the largest of the 
productive sorts, but as grown here is of poor qual- 
ity, and will not ship to any great distance. Is 
coxcomb shaped, light red, and a very strong 
grower. Specimens grown here have measured 
2 Yz inches in diameter. Is fertilized with Jessie 
or Beder Wood. 

Haverland^ P. — This variety has the reputation 
of standing drouth better than most of the others. 
It is a strong grower, and roots very deeply, and is 
free from rust which attacks many of the others in 
the eastern states, but which at present has given 
little trouble in the west. Early, productive, and 
large to very large, ripens evenly, and is a good 
shipper and market berr}^; blooms with the Beder 
Wood, which will make a good fertilizer for it. 

RASPBERRIES. 

These are of two families, the Antwerp and 
black cap. The former are generally red, and 
called Antwerps (I'tibtis strigosiis)^ while the latter 
are black, purple or yellow, and known as Black 
caps, or Thimble berries (7?. occidcntallis). In ordi- 
nary language these are known as the red and the 
black, though the color should be different. The 



1 86 SMALL FRUITS. 

former propagate from sprouts thrown up from the 
roots of the parent and are called suckers, while 
the latter do not sucker, but propagate by the 
recurved tips taking root in the soil. These are 
called tips, or, more properly, stolons. They are 
among our most valuable hardy small bush fruits, 
but, like the blackberry, they do best in sheltered 
positions. Where the canes (bushes) are liable to 
winter killing, in latitude 42 or south, it is believed 
to be generally due to the dr}'4ng and wrenching 
winds of winter more than to the intensity of the 
cold. This is also true of the grape. 

Where there is this liability it is an easy matter 
to cover them and in this manner insure a crop 
almost without peradventure. If planted in an 
orchard of trees large enough to be of considerable 
shelter, they will not generally need further pro- 
tection, or they will do in the place least favorable 
to the apple orchard, where well sheltered from the 
north and west winds. 

Prepare the ground as for strawberries, and plant 
for a considerable field 4x8 feet; cultivate as for 
corn. For a small lot for home use they can be 
grown in a matted row system, or an approach to 
that method. Plant 2 feet in the row and the 
rows 8 feet apart. 

The nurseryman hears more complaint from the 
planters of the failure of the raspberry than any 
other plant or tree. This is measurably so of the 
snowball, and for the same reason, namely, the 
great mass of fine roots which they bear. If these 



SMALL FRUITS. 1 87 

are properly spread out and earth worked among 
them, they will grow if received in good condition; 
but if stuffed into a hole, with no earth in contact 
with any but the outside roots, those in the center 
will soon mould and heat and, of course, die. 
There is another great cause of failure to get the 
plants to grow. There is left on all plants of the 
black cap family a part of the old cane from which 
the tip grew merely for the purpose of a handle 
for bunching, etc. It is not necessary and is only 
left on for convenience in handling. This is, per- 
haps, 8 inches long. Many planters presume this 
is to make the future plant and set the stolon 
proper vSo deep that the new plant which is to grow 
from the crown down in among the fine roots will 
never get through to the ground surface. They 
must be planted deep enough so they will not dry 
out, and at the same time not so deep that the 
buds, which will always show at the crown, cannot 
readily force their way through. 

The canes will usually make quite strong bushes 
the first year and give something like one-fourth 
to a half crop the succeeding season. 

They are also apt the first year to run on the 
ground and not form the bush habit. No stolons 
should be allowed to take the first summer, as it ' 
weakens the plant too much. The first fall cut the 
canes back to about a foot all around from the 
crown, and the next summer, as the new canes 
grow up stocky and thrifty, pinch off" the ends 
when at about 2>4 to 3 feet high, and keep up this 



1 88 SMALL FRUITS. 

practice, not allowing them to grow higher than 
this. By this treatment they will branch out and 
better mature their wood; besides they will inter- 
lace with each other and make a self-support. 

The raspberry makes its wood one year, bears its 
fruit upon it the next, and dies soon after the fruit 
is gathered. This old wood, being of no further 
use, should be cut out and burned. 

If they are not to be covered for winter, a heavy 
mulch applied to the ground between the rows has 
been found of great benefit in preventing winter 
killing. Miich of this damage is due to drying, 
and the mulch holding the moisture in the 
ground, and by some process which we are not 
acquainted with this moisture is supplied by the 
roots to the tops, even in the freezing weather of 
winter. 

The above instructions are given expressly for 
the care of the black caps, but is applicable to the 
red in every particular except to the difiiculty of 
transplanting. If the suckers are allowed to grow 
freely from the red raspberries, there will be but 
little fruit. They must be kept down, and there 
will be a very heavy and desirable crop. 

The raspberry will yield about one-half as much 
fruit to the acre as the strawberry. (See "Black- 
berry" for directions for covering.) 

Tur7ier. — This is the best and hardiest of all the 
reds. Fruit is light crimson, good size and of the 
first quality. 

Cuthbert. — Very much like the Turner, but not 



SMALL FRUITS. 1 89 

SO hardy and not as good quality. Is a valuable 
sort where they are to be covered. 

Shaffer's Collossal. — This is a cross between the 
reds and blacks, and is a dark purple, very large, 
nearly double the size of the Turner and of excel- 
lent quality. Is very difficult to propagate, as the 
tips will not take root unless pinned down, and 
then frequently do not. It is not as hardy as the 
Turner, generally killing every winter in the 
northern half of Nebraska. It should have winter 
protection. 

Soiihegan. — Is the hardiest of all the black caps 
and stands at the head of the list for the north. 
Canes are intensely thorny, more so than any of 
the others. Fruit of medium size and best quality. 
It will stand in many places without protection, 
but if it is found to injure can be covered there- 
after, with the loss of but one crop. 

Tyler. — Same as Souhegan. 

Gregg. — In the Mississippi valley this is the most 
profitable berry grown. Is at home on the black 
soils of that locality. It is the largest of all tha 
true black caps, and when fully ripe has a purplish 
tint. Quality best. Does not succeed so well in 
the northern Missouri valley where it is too tender. 

Older. — These have been planted largely by us 
in the last year, but as yet it is too early to give a 
description on their merits, but copy the descrip- 
tion given by a large grower, who is perfectly 
reliable: 

"This originated in northeastern Iowa about 10 



190 SMAI.L FRUITS. 

years ago. I have now grown it four years. Last 
season I kept an account of all my raspberries as I 
picked them, and the Older produced 50 per cent 
more fruit than any of them on the same amount 
of ground. The Older is jet black, no bloom, 
about as large as the Gregg, three days later than 
Tyler or Souhegan in time of ripening, and about 
six days earlier than Gregg. S. T. Ballard, of 
Wisconsin, says of the Older's good qualities in 
the Kansas Review: 

" 'First — Its hardiness to withstand all the win- 
ters as far north as the Wisconsin line, where I am 
growing it,and perhaps as far north as Lake 
Superior. 

" 'Second — It is perfectly drouth-proof, always 
ripening all its fruit into fine berries, when Gregg, 
Ohio, Tyler, Souhegan and Milbourn dry np and 
not half be fit to pick. 

' ' 'Third — It will produce more fruit to a yard of 
row than any other berry. It ripens six days in 
advance of the Gregg. 

" 'Fourth — The berries average larger than any 
other the season through. They are coal black, 
with the richest and thickest of juice, and the 
smallest seeds of any black cap, hence is best for 
table use and canning. ' 

"So far as my judgment goes after fruiting it for 
four years, I think Mr. Ballard's estimate is correct. ' ' 

The Doolittle, Mammoth Cluster and Hopkins 
have merits, but with the above it is not thought 
that they will be necessary. 



SMALL FRUITS. 191 

BLACKBERRIES. 

With a little care this fruit may be grown suc- 
cessfully wherever Indian corn is a success, and, 
with laying down and covering in winter 
much further north, provided there is sufficient 
rainfall. An extended drouth at or near the time 
of ripening is fatal to the fruit, as it dries up 
badly. For this reason it will be well in selecting 
the location for the small fruit patch to locate it 
where it can be irrigated from the tank or well. In 
most parts of South Dakota where there is cheap 
artesian water this will become an easy task, and is 
one of the many advantages that this highly favored 
state enjoys, yet seems not to be fully appreciated. 
The presence of an artificial or other pond near the 
orchard or fruit garden is of great benefit, aside 
from its value for other purposes. 

Where this fruit is raised along garden fences or 
the edges of timber belts, without cultivation, as 
it frequently is and very successfully, too, the danger 
of these drouth periods are greater than where grown 
in cultivated land checked off like corn. 

Where there is plenty of rainfall the blackberry 
succeeds well grown in the cottonwood groves, 
provided that the trees are not too close and the 
ground is good. They will probably succeed as 
well in the orchard or in the ash groves, but they 
are a failure in the box elders. 

In the above it is supposed that they are to be 
grown by what is known as the "slip shod" manner, 
that is, no particular work except planting and 



192 SMALL FRUITS. 

picking the fruit. I have seen some fine planta- 
tions of this kind that produced large quantities of 
fruit. One patch is now in my mind, near Wisner, 
Nebraska, consisting of about three-fourths of an 
acre, that has not for years made a failure, except 
from drouth causes. They are grown in an old 
Cottonwood grove; the trees are very large but not 
very close. The entire patch is a bramble, the old 
dead canes are not even cut out, but they make a 
growth yearly of 8 to 10 feet in height and are very 
productive. These are the Snyders; but there is in 
the same grove a smaller patch of Kittitinnies that 
only bears at rare intervals. 

This mode of growing is only a makeshift, but 
is much better than nothing, and many are so 
situated that they will follow this plan and almost 
get something for nothing. The better way is 
to devote proper time and space to them, and 
make a success. If near a market they will always 
be in demand at good prices, and will be found to be 
a much more profitable crop than wheat or corn. 
If not near a market we have found that among the 
neighbors there has always been a good market for 
any surplus fruit. 

Select a piece of good land, not the black muck 
of the river bottoms, but a rich clayey loam. Plow 
deeply, aud put it in the best condition. The 
ground may be laid off with a corn marker and 
the plants set only in each alternate row. This 
will make them something like 4x8 feet apart. If 
practicable let the rows run north and south. 



SMALL FRUITS. 1 93 

There are but two varieties of this fruit that nave 
been sufficiently tested in the northwest that can 
be recommended, the Snyder and Ancient Briton; 
plant half of each kind alternating the rows. 

Good plants will always have at the bottom of 
the cane a cross section of root. Where the plants 
are carelessly taken up this cross root is pulled off 
and left in the ground, leaving only the stub for 
the purchaser. Such plants rarely grow, and it is 
essential that we get a stand the first planting. 
Keep the cultivator Tunning; keep down all weeds 
and keep the ground in the best condition. If we 
get a good growth this year we may look for nearly 
half a crop ot fruit the next season. If in a section 
where there is danger of winter killing by leaving 
them up, we will cover them in October or 
November. Three men will be required to do 
the work to the best advantage. The first with a 
heavy pair of buckskin gloves gathers the canes 
into a bunch, and as he presses them down one 
takes a spadeful of earth away from the roots in the 
direction that the plants are being laid, while the 
other puts his spade in deeply on the opposite side, 
cutting some of the roots, and the plant is easily 
bent close to the ground. It will be enough generally 
to pin them there or secure them by laying on some 
branches of trees. In this condition they will 
generally go through the winter all right, but if in a 
very cold and windy climate it is better to cover 
liglitly, either with earth or some litter that will 
protect them better from the drying wind. 



194 SMALL FRUITS. 

Three men will lay down and cover about one 
acre per day. The distance apart as above will give 
about 1,400 plants to the acre. The third year they 
will be in full bearing and will with good care 
yield about 3 to 4 quarts to the bush, and in some 
cases have produced more than double that. The 
Snyder is somewhat hardier than the Ancient 
Briton and will be the only plant proper for the ' 'slip 
shod" system. It will not yield like the latter, nor 
hold out the size of fruit to the last picking like it. 
Both are excellent fruits, and good shippers. 

In placing the canes back the next spring, do it 
early, and do not try to get them to stand upright. 
Those laying near the ground produce the best and 
most fruit. If the patch is thoroughly mulched so 
as to keep down weeds and suckers, it will add to 
the yield and save the labor of cultivating. This 
will also, in case they are not laid down be a great 
preventive of root or cane killing. 

Cut the old wood out as soon as the fruit is off 
and the bushes begin to fail. A strong knife 
welded to the shank of a hoe, and used on the 
handle, the blade standing at a right angle to it 
will be found an excellent tool for this work. 

m 

CURRANTS. 

This fruit, like the strawberry and gooseberry, is 
one that will thrive in the extreme northern limit 
of the wheat belt, is easily cared for, and no farm 
or town garden should be without a yearly supply. 
It requires the best of ground, and a partially 



SMALL FRUITS. 1 95 

shaded situation. The north side of a board fence 
or row of wild plums, or, better, Russian Mulberries 
will furnish this. For field culture plant rows 6 to 
8 feet by 2 to 3 in the row. 

The ground must be of the best, and then they 
will be benefitted by a yearly application of stable 
manure. Keep them cultivated and the ground in 
a loose, mellow condition, in order to keep it 
moist. 

A heavy mulching of sawdust or partly rotted 
straw, applied in the fall after the leaves have been 
shed, will insure a crop which in other cases might 
fail. It will be left on indefinitely, and save culti- 
vation. This is especially desirable in sandy lands, 
and in places where they cannot have the shade 
referred to, as it prevents the ground from becom- 
ing too hot, and supplies some moisture to the 
foliage. 

The currant starts to grow very early in the 
spring, and if young plants are received that show 
much starting of the buds the tops should be cut 
off to near the ground. The same treatment should 
be given if they appear to be dry when received. 
This is very important. 

The White Grape is the best of the white varie- 
ties, and with us has been the most prolific of any. 
It is also for home use the best of any in quality, 
but is not so good as a market variety as the red 
ones, as the fancy of the consumer is for the reds. 

The Victoria stands first of the latter class, is a 
very strong grower, and makes the largest bush of 



196 SMALL FRUITS. 

any, sometimes standing 3 to 4 feet high; is prolific 
as any, and ripens ten days to two weeks later than 
the Red Dutch, though comes to bearing later. 

Red Dutch. — One of the oldest of the well-known 
varieties, and can always be depended upon to do 
well, but especially so in the heavy black soils of 
the Mississippi valley. 

Lo7tg Bunched Holland. — This should be tried to 
some extent by every planter. Where it does well 
it is one of the best, but in many places does not 
bear well. It is thought to do better on the heavy 
clay soils than on the bottoms or prairies. Slow 
grower while young. Ripens late. 

Black Naples and Lee^ s Prolific have proved to be 
the best of all the black varieties, but have not with 
me been worth cultivating in Nebraska, while in 
eastern Iowa and western Illinois they are valuable. 

La Versalles is a red variety that is in favor 
with some, but with the varieties above described 
will not be necessary. 

GOOSEBERRIES. 

As hardy as the currant, and too well known to 
need much description. It is easily grown treated 
as has been described for the currant. Its natural 
home is in the open forest, and rich compost 
soils of the partly shaded and protected ravines, 
and along streams. It will not give so good results 
if allowed to become matted in the rows with grass 
and weeds as is too frequently the case, and will 
repay well any extra care that may be given it. 



SMALL PRUITS. 1 97 

The cultivated varieties are much superior, both 
in size, quality and productiveness, to the wild ones. 

They may be planted in rows 5 feet apart and the 
plants set 4 feet in the rows. Larger and better fruit 
is obtained by judicious pruning in the fall after 
growth has ceased. Mulching is also of benefit) 
and is resorted to by many, on account of the diffi- 
culty of working closely among the canes, where 
the thorns are somewhat irritating. 

The gooseberry plant starts the earliest in the 
spring of any of the small fruits, and if received in a 
much advanced condition, will not be apt to grow 
under any but the most favorable conditions. If 
the tops are cut off to near the ground as soon as 
planted they will grow readily, and no loss is occa- 
sioned by it, for it is generally the case that this, 
or any other plant treated in this way, even if 
received in the best condition is benefitted by it, 
and the plant will be as large in the fall as if it 
had not been cut back. This is of importance. 

Of the European sorts the hidustry has given the 
best results of any, and in some places has been 
highly praised. The fruit is very large, frequently 
as large as a large wild plum, and of excellent 
flavor, but it is better to try them very lightly, as, 
like all the other foreign varieties introduced here, 
it is subject to mildew. Where the varieties 
described below are easily grown its principal value 
is in its oddity. The bush grows upright and strong 
under favorable conditions; in leaf and expression 
it is like the Downing. 



198 SMALL FRUITS. 

Downing. — The largest of any of the American 
sorts (and this has foreign blood in it), and stands at 
the head of the list for the west for all purposes, 
though with some the Houghton is classed as 
first 

Bush quite upright when young, drooping some- 
what when in fruiting, has large and strong spines, 
from which it is readily recognized from the 
Houghton. Fruit is very large, oblong, sometimes 
I inch the long way by ^ to Ji|^ the other; greenish 
yellow when ripe and very handsome. 

Houghton. — Purely American, and one of the 
largest and surest croppers. Little more than half 
the size of the last named, it will bear in bulk as 
much or more. Fruit more of a pinkish cast, and 
partly transparent, showing the seeds through the 
skin. The bush is of a trailing habit, and when in 
full bearing fruit is apt to lay on the ground. 

Smith's Improved. — Is not so good a grower as 
the Downing, which it resembles, both in bush and 
fruit, though the fruit is not so large, and of light 
green color when fully ripe. Is of good quality. 
Shy bearer in Illinois. 

DEWBERRIES. 

A variety of tiie blackberry, and is a runner or 
creeper, sometimes called Running blackberry. In 
this vicinity they have done no good, while on the 
clayey bluffs near Sioux City they have been very 
successful. It is well to try them in a small way, 
for where they succeed they are very valuable, as 



SMALL FRUITS. 1 99 

they are enormously productive, and are very easily 
covered for winter where this is necessary. 

The vines should be cut to about 12 to 15 inches 
from the hill in the fall before covering. They do 
not sprout like the high bush blackberries with 
this treatment, but if the tops are cut away entirely 
they will throw up sprouts at some distance from 
the hills. 

The Ivucretia is the best variety thoroughly 
tried, but the Bartell is highly recommended. 

DWARF MOUNTAIN JUNEBERRY. 

A variety of the old serviceberry or shadberry of 
the New England states, but is much superior in 
all respects. It grows but about 4 to 6 feet high 
and is perfectly hardy. It is also a fine ornamental 
tree or shrub, bearing an immense load of pure 
white fragrant flowers very early in the spring. 
These are followed by a load of dark red or purple 
berries the size of large peas, and very much the 
same appearance as the huckleberry. It is fre- 
quently sold for them, and I am of opinion that 
some western nurserymen, not being acquainted 
with that fruit, have done it innocently. It is no 
more related to the huckleberry than it is to the 
hickory. The former is of the genus Vaccinium^ 
while the juneberry is Amelanchien. 

It propagates by suckering, but not to a very 
considerable degree. The young plants from the 
nurseries are generally destitute of any but the 
main root, and it is necessary before planting to 



200 SMALL FRUITS. 

cut the tops to near the ground to insure their 
growth. 

BARBERRY OR BERBERY. 

Does well in the west, but not as productive as 
in the New England states, where in many parts it 
grows wild, and is very prolific and very handsome. 
The bush grows to the height of 6 to 8 feet, and is 
covered with spines, which are not troublesome, as 
they easily break off when pressed. It is little 
grown in the west, and has the reputation of pro- 
ducing the rust that starts in the wheat fields. It 
is generally thought that this is an error, but inves- 
tigation has determined that this rust is identical 
with that of the wheat. 

The fruit is the shape of a grain of rice, but 
hardly as pointed, deep crimson and borne in 
racemes, and is largely used for preserves, jellies, or 
other purposes, being much like the currant in 
acidity, and very pleasant. It has a large seed 
which lessens its value for many purposes. The 
purple-leaved variety is used much for ornament, 
having bright purple foliage. It also bears fruit, 
but not so profusely as the other. 

BUFFALO BERRY. 

This is confined to the northwest, indigenously, 
where it grows along the river bottoms, and is 
easily distinguished at a great distance from the 
silvery leaves. It is irregular in habit, and grows 
to the height of lo feet or more. The tree is 
dioecious, purely, requiring the two sexes together 



SMALL FRUITS. 201 

to produce fruit. The berries are somewhat smaller 
than the currant which they much resemble both in 
taste and appearance, being, however, slightly more 
astringent, and are borne upon short racemous 
sprigs. The fruit is used for the same purposes as 
the currant. It is, when removed from its natural 
habitat, apt to be a shy bearer, but when every- 
thing is favorable it is immensely productive. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Grapes. 

THERE is no better fruit for the home garden 
and none more easily grown in large quantities 
than the grape, and there is none more wholesome. 
Its habit is such that it can be trained to the trellis 
or upon the building, occupying but little space 
upon the ground; it recommends itself as strongly 
to the villager with his small cottage and few feet 
of land as to the one with more ample room. 

Some of the principal requisites of success are a 
proper location, thoroughly prepared ground are 
deep and careful plowing and smoothing, good 
cultivation and judicious training. 

Most of the good soils of this section are proper 
for this purpose, but a warm sunny location, with 
some protection from the north and west as groves 
or belts of timber, is a desirable one. 

The rows should be run east and west, as this 
gives the greatest amount of sunlight to the ground 
between them. Put the rows 8 feet apart and 
the plants from 8 to lo feet in the row. 

A good one year old vine is preferred to start 
with. Before planting cut back all the top to one 
or two buds, and the roots to about 8 to lo inches. 

203 



204 GRAPES. 

We have practiced cutting them much shorter than 
this and had the best results, and it saves time in 
planting. 

These vines are grown from cuttings as will 
readily be seen, and this cutting should be entirely 
covered when planted. It has been in the ground 
for one or two years and has become practically a 
root instead of a cane as it was. The root of the 
grape is very sensitive to drying, and if the greater 
part of this cane-root is left exposed to the air there 
will be great loss. There is no one thing that 
causes so much loss to the planter as this. Slant 
the cutting to the north at an angle of about 45 
degrees. Spread the roots out in a natural position 
but do not make the mistake of placing them in a 
downward direction. The root of a grape keeps 
near the surface, and should not be given much of 
a downward direction below the bottom of the 
cutting. They must not be allowed to dry, for they 
will perish in the sun or wind almost as quickly as 
those of an evergreen. 

Cultivate thoroughly but not so deeply as to 
interfere with the roots which run very 
near the surface. It will not be necessary 
to put up trellises till the third year, though 
there will usually be some fruit the second. 
It is better to set the posts for the trellis about 16 
feet apart, and they should be extra length, say 8 
feet or 10 would be better, so that when firmly set 
in the ground the top wire can be 6 feet from the 
ground. These should be set about a foot or more 



GRAPES. 205 

north of the line of grapes. Use three plain fence 
wires, the first 2 feet from the ground, one at the 
top, and one midway. The best fruit will be that 
which grows the highest. 

The first and second year do not encourage the 
vines to climb, but rather keep them as close to the 
ground as possible. Do not let them spread toward 
each other, but by staking or weighting, make 
them all take the same direction. For instance we 
are on the south side of a row facing it; all vines in 
this row should grov/ to the right or left, it matters 
not which. By this system the vines can be much 
more easily laid down, and they have the same 
room as if trained fan shaped, which is usually 
recommended. There is another object which we 
accomplish by this; the main canes are for some 
distance parallel with the ground and close to it. 
However large they may grow, there will never be 
any trouble to cover them, as is the case where 
they are taken out in an upright position, in which 
case this wood gets so large in a few years, and so 
rigid as to preclude laying down. Where this is 
the case with old vineyards they can be renewed 
by allowing new canes to grow from nearer the 
ground and when large enough the old ones are 
removed. 

Take only three canes from the plant, two is 
better than four. The lowest of these will of course 
be carried the furthest horizontally, the middle one 
next, and the top one but a few inches or a foot. 
Spread these out upon the wires, giving as near as 



2o6 GRAPES. 

may be the same amount of space to each, so that 
when they commence growing they shall cover the 
trellis evenly. 

The great fear of the planter is that he will not 
be able to prune properly. There are several 
methods employed, but the principle, or the object 
to be obtained is the same in all cases. Had we 
not departed from nature, by crowding too many 
vines upon the ground, it is my opinion that little 
or no pruning w^ould be required. I have seen a 
Concord vine that had escaped from its straight 
jacket, and climbed a dead apple tree, produce more 
and better fruit than would ordinarily grow upon 
4 or 5 vines as ordinarily pruned. Nevertheless, 
there are reasons why the close planting is the 
better. We shall get a full crop of fruit sooner 
from the same ground than if we plant only one 
fourth as many vines, which would contemplate 
waiting till the vines had become as large as the 
aggregate of the closer planted ones. 

The amount of fruit where a close pruning system 
is pursued will be regulated by it. If we allow too 
much fruit to set it will be smaller, of inferior 
quality, and is apt not to ripen. 

Each bud or "eye" is an embryo branch or 
lateral, which when developed will produce, about 
three bunches of fruit. In pruning keep this in view. 
Large strong vines will of course be allowed to 
bear more than smaller ones. The temptation is 
always to save too many of these buds, presuming 
that more buds will bring more fruit. 



GRAPES. 207 

Better have fewer bunches of better quality. This 
will hold good in any fruit that has a tendency to 
overbear. By reducing the numbers we shall get 
the same, or perhaps more in weight that will com- 
mand a better price, and the tree or vine is relieved 
of its greatest and most debilitating strain, that of 
maturing the seeds. 

Pruning may be done either in the spring or fall. 
If in the fall, which is preferred, November or late 
October is a good time. 

Let us suppose that the vine has been planted two 
or three years and has three canes 5 to 6 feet long. 
There are not at this time any branches to be con- 
sidered, and we will shorten them to about 3 feet 
and they are ready for winter cover. 

The next fall each bud will have made a lateral, 
and each bearing several buds. Besides this the 
main canes will have made an extension of several 
feet. We will again shorten these to about half 
their last year's growth, being governed by the 
growth it has made and the space it is to cover. 
The laterals will also be shortened to from one to 
three buds, according to the number of these later- 
als, and the strength of the vine. When the vine 
has reached the limits of space reaching to the next 
vine, it is thought that two buds to each lateral will 
give the best results. 

The canes when treated in this way are ready not 
only for covering, but to go upon the trellis in the 
spring. It is not best to take them from the cover 
very early, as the grape starts late, and should be 



208 GRAPES. 

allowed to remain till the buds show some indica- 
tion of growth, but not till much swollen, as in this 
condition they are very easily broken off in hand- 
ling. Tie them up as has been directed, leaving a 
good space between the wire and cane for expan- 
sion, and do not pass the cords around the canes as 
it will grow into them and cut them off. 

There is a system of laying down without taking 
from the trellis. Each vine has a trellis of its own 
consisting of a frame lo feet long, and as high as 
required, hinged to solid blocks at the bottom. It 
has also longitudinal wires. By removing the 
props it will fall readily to the ground. This is of 
little benefit as the vines must be taken from the 
trellis for pruning, and can be done as well from a 
permanent trellis. 

The grape arbor is a beautiful addition to the 
home grounds. It may be costly or very primitive, 
and cheap in construction, it matters little as it is 
soon hidden by the mass of foliage and interlacing 
vines. As the fruit hangs down, it is nearly all in 
sight from the underside, and there can be no more 
beautiful sight than that given in one of these 
shady bowers, tasseled and festooned with purpling 
clusters of grapes, so sharply defined beneath their 
canopy of amber and emerald. 

The best of all sorts for this purpose in a trying 
climate is the Janes ville, which is described below. 
The object, of course, in laying down these vines 
is to prevent winter killing, but it comes through 
the better retention of the moisture in the canes. 



GRAPES. 209 

There are times when vines left on the trellises will 
go through the most severe winters uninjured, 
while at other times a less severe winter is fatal to 
them. When the vines kill it is not usual that the 
roots are affected, but in this loss of canes we are 
set back at least one year. 

It is believed that the different effect upon the vines 
in different winters as above, is caused by the con- 
dition of the ground in the fall as to moisture, and 
perhaps to the manner in which the canes ripened the 
previous summer, but in a less degree. It will kill or 
severely injure plants to freeze them dry, and when 
there is no moisture, or very little in the ground at 
the time of freezing, there is danger of a total loss 
of the plant. This is more especially the case if 
the plants are young and have not secured a strong 
hold upon the soil. This is the reason that so 
many complain that their vines made a fine growth 
the first year and died the first winter. If there 
could have been some way to have supplied this 
moisture, and the vines had been properly covered, 
this would not have occurred. Even in these dry- 
est of falls, if the ground has been properly culti- 
vated there will still be enough moisture retained 
to carry the plants through, and these losses are 
generally the fault of the planter. Very many 
people do not yet realize how important this stir- 
ring the ground is in a dry climate. 

It is a mistake to suppose that grapes will 
ripen in the sunlight better than in a partially 
jihaded position. Many have thought to hurry 



210 GRAPES. 

the ripening process, fearing an early frost, and 
have picked or cut away the leaves to allow the 
sun a better chance at them. Instead of hastening 
it delays it, and if too severely done they will not 
ripen at all, but burn, sour and drop off. The 
leaves are the lungs of the plant and as such should 
be allowed to remain as nature intended. 

Summer pruning consists of pinching off the 
growing shoots after the fruit has been all set. 
This practice is at best very questionable, and as 
very satistactory results are obtained without it, it 
should be done sparingly, and then only with a 
part to learn its effects. Some very rampant 
growers like the best of the Rogers hybrids might 
be improved by it if done judiciously. 

Winter protection.— \n parts of the country 
where there is plenty of rainfall, and the ground 
is in fairly moist condition in the fall, it is only 
necessary to lay the vines down and cover with 
earth, barely enough to say they are covered. This 
is the usual practice in the Mississippi valley, and 
the latitude of 40 and below, but further north, in 
northwestern Iowa, and southwestern Minnesota, 
and Dakota, it has not proved to be as reliable as 
the use of mulch of some kind, such as partly 
rotted straw, corn stalks, &c. Something that 
will prevent the canes from drying too severely, 
and will not easily blow off. 

Many are recommending the putting down and 
covering the tops only, claiming that the large 
stems are not hurt by the severest winters. This 



GRAPES. 211 

practice may have been successful at times, and 
may not subject the vine grower to loss, but the 
author lost large Concords in 1876 protected in 
this way, which is a warning that it is not always 
a safe practice. 

In varieties the Concords still holds the lead, com- 
bining more good qualities than any other, though 
the Worden is a very close competitor. The 
former is too well known to need a description. 
It is not of first quality, nor indeed second, 
though in hardiness, freedom from disease and pro- 
ductiveness no other grape can show so many good 
points over so great an extent of territory. To be 
at its best it should be thoroughly ripened, and 
when kept carefully for three or four weeks after 
gathering, it is at least a very good grape. 

The Worden very much resembles the Concord, 
both in fruit and vine, but is from ten days to 
sometimes two weeks earlier, and of much better 
quality. Its fault is in having a very thin skin 
which lessens its value as a market variety, and as 
a keeper. 

A great number of varieties are not necessary, 
though there is generally a disposition on the part 
of grape lovers to plant every new variety that is 
presented with a good "pedigree." We will first 
give a sufficiently large list alphabetically and then 
name them in the order of their value as we have 
found them. 

Agazvmn (Rogers No. 15). — This together with 
all the R. Hybrids were obtained from seed of the 



212 GRAPES. 

native fox grape of New England, fertilized by the 
foreign Black Hamburg. It is light purple, and 
very large and showy. Quality, good to very good, 
and a good keeper. 

Brighton. — Amber or brownish red; berries 
oblong; medium size or below; bunch very long, 
shouldered, but not compact. The vine is a 
vigorous grower, and fruit ripens at or before the 
Concord. Quality, best. 

Coe. — This is an old variety that seems not to 
have taken so good a hold of the public as some 
others that are far inferior. It is a very early, black 
grape; bunch and berry small, but an immense 
bearer and almost as hardy as the Clinton. It is 
one of the grapes that will do in most locations for 
the arbor, or where it is not to be protected during 
winter. It is much better in quality of fruit than 
the Janesville, and nearly as good a grower. 

Clinton. — This approaches nearer the type of the 
wild or ' ' Frost Grape ' ' than any other cultivated 
variety. It is very hardy; black, bunches small 
and compact; fruit, below medium size. It has the 
high vinous flavor of the wild grape, and is valu- 
able for wine making. Its fault is in bearing a few 
berries of green fruit in each bunch, which gives it 
an unsightly appearance. Though the quality is 
such as to rule it from the list of table grapes, it is, 
when thoroughly ripe and has been kept for a few 
weeks, of very fair quality, and by some preferred 
to the Concord. The leaf is liglit and thin like 
the wildings. 



'w-'^ 



GRAPES. 213 

Concord. — Black, large berry; strong grower; 
fair quality; hardy, and free from disease. 

Croton. — A very good, white grape, but quite 
tender. Not a good grower. 

Delaivare. — This is one of the oldest of the 
popular pink grapes. It should be in every col- 
lection; though in some localities it does not 
succeed well. Bunch and berry very small, but a 
profuse bearer, and so beautiful as to be sought for 
in the best markets at the highest price. Quality, 
best. The vine is a fair grower, but its tendency 
is to overbear, which, if allowed, will frequently 
cause its death. 

Duchess. — This is among the best of the white 
grapes for all purposes. It succeeds through a 
wide range; is a great bearer, and bCvSt quality. 
The skin is thick, which makes it a good keeper 
and good shipper. Bunch and berry medium, and 
fairly compact. 

Early Victor. — An early grape of good quality. 
Black; bunch and berry small. Not a good grower, 
but does well on the rich soils along the river 
bottoms. 

Elvira. — This grape is to the white ones what 
the Concord is to the black. It is a standard, and 
when all others fail can be depended upon to 
supply the table with a very good crop of fair fruit. 
Bunch and berry, medium to small. Ripens with 
the Concord or later. 

Empire State. — A comparatively new grape from 
New York. It has been, like many others of these 



214 GRAPES. 

new varieties, held at exliorbitant prices. It is, 
however, among the best of the white class. In 
quality of fruit it is best, and if we except the 
Brighton, perhaps the best. Bunch and berry 
very large; pulp, small, with a very delicious, 
rather thick and rich juice. It is not as good a 
grower as some of the others described, but is 
medium. It is a good keeper. 

Goethe (R. H. , No. i). — Where this excellent 
grape will ripen it should be in every amateur list. 
Brown or wine color; very large berry and medium 
bunch. Quality, best. The best of the R. H. for 
the West. 

Lady. — Also a white grape of good quality; 
closely resembles the Martha, but berry is more 
transparent and slightly better quality. Good 
grower and hardy when covered. 

Martha. — Sometimes called "White Concord" 
of which it is a seedling. Good grower and hardy; 
not a good bearer, except in the best of soils. 

Merri7nac (R. H., No. 19). — In quality and time 
of ripening like Goethe. Black, very large berry; 
bunch not compact, and many berries fail to 
mature. 

Moore^s Early. — Has had too much praise for 
its value in this locality. I^arge berry and small 
bunch; ripens unevenly, and sometime before the 
Concord. Drops its fruit as soon as ripe, and 
sometimes sooner. Quality, fair. 

Pocklingtoit. — A very good, medium, yellowish, 
white grape; good grower, very healthy; holds its 



GRAPES. 215 

fruit well. It has a very sprightly flavor for a 
white grape, but one tires of it sooner than of 
many of the others. 

Wilder (R. H., No. 4). — Too nearly like Merri- 
mac to require both in same collection. 

Worden. — Closely resembles Concord, but ripens 
ten days earlier; better quality; not so good a 
grower, but very prolific. For a home grape it is 
one of the three best. Not so good a shipper as the 
Concord. 

Among the promismg newer varieties not 
described here are Jefferson^ Woodruff s Red^ 
Niagara^ Greeii Mountain or Winchell. These are 
all undoubtedly valuable but have not been tested 
by me long enough to decide upon their merits. 

The following list is given in the order of their 
value for all purposes: Concord, Worden, Brighton. 
Elvira, Coe, Duchess. 

The following is given in their order for quality: 
Brighton, Empire State, Worden, Delaware, Lady, 
Goethe. 

In time of ripening the following: Champion 
(not described as quality is too poor), Coe, Worden, 
Moore's Early, Lady, Pocklington, Concord. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Description of Apples and Pears. 

IN describing the apples as given below, to avoid 
confusion in terms variously employed to denote 
hardiness, they will be numbered from one to ten, 
the hardiest being numbered one, and the tenderest 
ten, intermediate numbers denoting the different 
degrees between them as near as may be. 

It is common in our western horticultural socie- 
ties to place these different sorts in certain latitudes, 
but as we have shown in another place under the 
relationship of hardiness to latitudes, it has been 
thought better to make the above distinctions. 

It is well to remark here, that there will no 
doubt, be exceptions to this classification in indi- 
vidual cases. Thus: the Ben Davis is marked 5, 
while there are cases where it is standing, and has 
stood for years side by side with the Duchess which 
is marked i. The intention is to convey in the 
simplest manner what the reputation is in general, 
of certain varieties mostly grown in the northwest. 

SUMMER VARIETIES. 

Tetofski^ also known as Russian Crab. — This is 
undoubtedly of Russian origin, but entirely unlike 

217 



2l8 DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 

any of the latter importations in the habit of tree. It 
is a very slow grower, and remarkably stocky. At 
three years old it is hardly taller than a large year- 
ling, but heavy in trunk and limbs, which grow 
very upright, and makes a downward growth of 
roots, not exceeded by any other variety ; hardiness, 
I. Fruit medium or below, yellow and slightly 
blushed, aromatic, acid and hardly good. Ripens 
among the earliest. 

Early Harvest. -^x^^ vigorous, and healthy, up- 
right when young, bu^ spreading when in orchard. 
Trunks and larger limbs light colored, but brown 
strong shoots, frequently produced in doubles. 
Makes perfect forks and never splits down. Hardi- 
ness 6. Fruit medium to large, flat, is oblate as 
grown in the Missouri valley, but nearly round on 
the Mississippi slope. Yellowish green when grown 
in the sun and occasionally a very faint blush, but 
grown in the shade is green. Quality best, both 
for cooking and dessert, very aromatic. Ripens 
latter part of August. Pleasant acid. 

Slimmer Queen. — Tree vigorous and spreading, 
a shy bearer in the black soils, but grown in the 
bluffy lands of the west is very productive. Hardi- 
ness 4. Fruit is medium, conical, smooth; yel- 
low striped and splashed red and scarlet; aromatic 
and spicy, mildly acid, and when taken fresh from 
the tree it is one of the most satisfying of the 
summer apples. Is grown largely in the north- 
east central districts of Nebraska. 

Red June .^ or Carolina Red June. — Tree upright 



DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 219 

with slender twigs and dark colored bark and 
shoots. Hardiness 3, when the trunks are 
protected from sun scalding, which is its weakness; 
fruit medium or below, conical, very red, and colors 
all over; flesh white, sub-acid, juicy and very pleas- 
ant. Best for dessert. It has the quality of matur- 
ing fruit while there are barely half grown speci- 
mens on the tree. Will continue to mature fruit 
good to the last for four or five weeks. In South 
Carolina where it originated it ripens in June, but 
in the north from July last to September i. 

Sweet June. — Tree upright and twiggy. Shoots 
slender, and pale green. Hardiness 4, except for 
the sun scalding as noted in Red June. Fruit 
medium or below, roundish, though at times coni- 
cal, light yellow and very smooth; season, August 
and early September. Very sweet and rich, and 
one of the best of all the sweet apples. Sometimes 
called High top Sweet. 

Red Astrachaji. — Of Russian origin. Tree 
moderate grower when small but makes a very 
large tree in orchard. Upright diverging, close 
top with large and wavy leaves. Hardiness 2. 
Fruit medium to large, flat to roundish, yellow 
ground covered nearly with smooth red and a 
heavy bloom. Aromatic, and less acid than many 
of that race, but not mild enough for the dessert, 
good for the kitchen, always fair and seldom 
wormy. Season, August. 

Duchess of Oldenburg. — Usually call " Duchess.'* 
The origin of this apple is in doubt. Its name 



220 DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 

would imply a German origin, but the tree has the 
typical characteristics of the Russians. It is 
taken as a standard of hardiness, and when other 
varieties are classified by comparison with some 
well known sort this is usually used. Upright 
grower while young, but in trees 2C years old the 
habit is quite spreading where exposed; trunk and 
limbs are apt to be crooked without any apparent 
reason why they should be so. Unless grown in 
the nursery in very good ground the tree is not apt 
to be chosen by the customers, and frequently re- 
fused on the delivery grounds, when true to name, 
hence many other handsomer sorts are apt to go 
out under that name. It is not a good grower, and 
seldom makes a full stand when root grafted, fre- 
quently less than half. Hardiness i. Fruit 
medium as grown in the Missouri valley, but on 
the dark soils of eastern Iowa it is very large 
approaching the Alexander. Round, sometimes 
slightly flattened; yellow and heavily splashed 
light and dark crimson; season, September. Quality 
only good for cooking, but can be used when half 
grown, is a pronounced acid. When fully ripe and 
just before decaying it is sometimes used for the 
dessert, but is not a favorite. 

Coles Quince. — Moderate upright grower, some- 
what straggling. Hardiness 3. Fruit large oblate 
and ribbed near apex. Yellow, mild sub-acid with 
a peculiarly pleasing quince flavor. Quality best 
both for kitchen and dessert. lyike the Duchess can 
be used when not fully grown. Very productive. 



DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 221 

Sops of Wine, — Tree very vigorous, spreading, 
straggling in habit, making very long swaying 
branches in nursery, but a very symmetrical tree in 
orchard. Hardiness 3. Fruit medium, round to 
slightly conical; light and dark red shaded, with 
dark red shading throughout from which it takes 
its name. Season, August and September in the 
north, but ripens in latter part of July in southern 
Illinois. Acid, but of best quality, both for| cook- 
ing and dessert. 

Cooper s early White. — (This is not the same as 
Cooper. ) Medium, spreading in habit, early and abun- 
dant bearer. Hardiness 7. Fruit medium or below, 
reddish and pale waxen yellow. Mildly sub-acid but 
an excellent cooker, and fair for dessert. When 
fully ripe it is crisp and considered by some as 
approaching the best. Season, late summer. 

Peach. {Canada Peach or Montreal Peach.) — 
Tree very thrifty, upright in nursery, shoots stout 
and olive color, moderately productive. Hardiness 
2. Is grown in central southern Minnesota, where 
it is claimed to be as hardy as the Duchess. Fruit 
medium or above, nearly round, sometimes slightly 
conical, smooth and glossy. Color, when fully 
ripe, bright straw color. Fine grained, juicy, 
tender, with decided acidity like the Duchess, but 
better in quality. Sometimes it has a faint blush 
which gives it a peculiarly peach expression. Sea- 
son same as Duchess, 

Golden Sweet. — Tree robust, vigorous, spread- 
ing, round head, early productive. Shoots stout, 



222 DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 

dark, foliage large dark. Hardiness 3 in deep 
sandy soils, for which it is peculiarly adapted. 
Fruit large, round, rich yellow, long slender stem, 
flesh yellow, melting and fine grained. Very sweet 
and juicy, with fine aromatic flavor, resembling 
sassafras. Use baking, market and dessert. Season. 
August and early September. 

(I have not seen this tree except in northeastern 
Iowa, near Delhi, where it was in perfection in the 
almost clear sands of that locality. It is believed 
that for such soils, where other varieties so fre- 
quently fail, it will be valuable for a sweet apple.) 

Hagloe. {Russian Hagloe. ) — This tree was for 
some years sent cut by some nurserymen as the 
Duchess of Oldenburg, which it resembles in leaf 
and color of wood, aside from this it is entirely 
distinct. It is evidently of Russian origin. Tree 
strong, but irregular grower; limbs and shoots very 
strong and heavy, shoots blunt. In orchard it 
forms a spreading, flat-topped tree. Hardiness 
3 or better. Fruit much like Duchess, but 
better, less acid. Use kitchen and market. For 
cooking it is good to very good. Season, August. 

Keszvick Codlin, — Origin England. Tree good, 
but rather irregular grower, brown shoots that 
diverge in a peculiar recurved manner. Hardiness 
4, when established in orchard 3 or better. 
Fruit medium to large, ovate often ribbed, clear 
pale yellow. Quality very good, especially for 
cooking. Flesh fine grained and juicy. Is a good 
and productive market variety. 



DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 223 

FALL VARIETIES. 
Farneuse or Snozu. — Straggling medium grower, 
poor nursery tree in the north, but it is among the 
most vahiabie when once established in the orchard, 
if sound; does not transplant as well as some. Pro- 
ductive and with good care is a constant bearer. 
Hardiness 4. Fruit medium, flat to roundish; 
specimens grown in the shade will be nearly green, 
finely flecked with pale red, like the Janet, but as 
grown in the sun is heavily striped or clear red, 
and ver>' handsome; flesh almost pure white, from 
which it gets its name of "Snow." When fully 
ripe, especially if allowed to ripen on the ground 
under the tree in the leaves or grass is juicy, and 
of the finest quality. One of the best. It will, 
under favorable conditions, keep till midwinter, 
and I have seen it in prime condition in northeast- 
ern Iowa in March. To keep good it must be 
gathered early. 

Haas or Gross Pomier. — Tree very rank and 
upright grower, which habit it maintains in 
the orchard, is very productive, but not an early 
bearer. Hardiness 2. Fruit medium to large, 
abruptly conical, being drawn down in a peculiar 
manner to the apex. Yellow, finely striped and 
blotched carmine and crimson. Quality fair for 
the kitchen,but somewhat astringent with an agree- 
able aroma, but not rich. Season, if allowed to 
ripen on the tree, September and October, but if 
gathered early will keep tlirough the greater part 
of the winter. Very valuable for the north. 



224 DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 

Wealthy. — Of Minnesota origin by Peter M. 
Gideon. Tree a moderate grower, somewhat 
resembling the Duchess, but stronger; will fre- 
quently show the slight angles in the middle of a 
shoot without apparent cause. Early and abun- 
dant bearer; Hardiness 2 or better. Fruit 
medium to large, round sometimes approaching 
oblate; stem and calyx deeply sunk meeting the eye, 
pale yellow, covered with clear red when fully 
colored in the sun. Quality very good, both for 
dessert and kitchen. The most valuable of all 
apples of recent introduction, seldom has discolored 
wood, and is at home in a great range of climate. 
Season, as grown in southern and central Minne- 
sota, midwinter, but in Iowa and Nebraska late 
fall. 

Utter or Utters Red. — Tree upright, moderate 
grower, and fair to good in the nursery, generall)' 
gives a good stand. Hardiness 4. Fruit large 
to very large, round, slightly ovate, early bearer 
and annually productive. Is a very profitable fall 
variety, as its large size and beauty will place it 
near the head in the market. Bright yellow, 
nearly covered with carmine stripes, sometimes 
broken into blotches. Quality good to very good, 
sub-acid, sprightly, juicy and aromatic. Season, 
October to January if rightly handled. 

Plumbs Cider. — Origin Wisconsin. Tree strong 
upright grower, dark bark and heavy leaves. 
Hardiness 2 or 3. Makes a beautiful tree in 
the orchard, always preserving an evenly open top. 



DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 225 

and never splits in the forks. Early bearer, and 
with age becomes very productive, one of the most 
useful of the fall varieties. Fruit medium or above, 
conical, and sometimes quite ovate. Yellow 
striped with red, which it nearly colors. Quality 
not rich, but very good, pleasant sub-acid. Sea- 
son, October.- 

Fall Orange. — Tree a rather slow but very stout 
grower in the nursery and makes a very large and 
excellent orchard tree. Should be grown more 
than it is. Hardiness 4. Fruit large round irreg- 
ular, greenish yellow, and pale yellow when ripe. 
Good quality especially for the kitchen, being too 
tart for good dessert fruit, though when very mellow 
is very good. 

Season, September and early October. (Some- 
times known as Holland pippin.) Is grown con- 
siderably in southeast Minnesota and about St. Paul. 

Fall Winesap. — Tree a good, strong, upright 
grower, rather straggling, dark bark and dark shoots. 
Good tree in nursery and orchard. Hardiness 5. 
Fruit medium size, round regular, red stripes on 
greenish yellow ground, good quality, season Sep- 
tember and early October. (This is not the same 
as Fall Wine, nor Sops of Wine.) 

Colvert. — Strong spreading in habit, good in 
nursery and orchard. Hardiness 3. Fruit large 
oblate. Surface smooth green mixed with light red. 
Basin and cavity like the Wealthy. Quality good, 
season, October and November. Good bearer in 
the west. 



226 DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 

Benoni. — Very upright grower, shoots light, 
brown color, fair grower, succeeds best on strong 
soils. Productive in the west, does well in eastern 
Iowa and western Illinois. Hardiness 5. Fruit, 
medium to small, round conical, yellow and striped 
and sometimes splashed red. Quality very good to 
best, season September. 

Day. — Originated in Maine, where it is much 
grown. (Description by R. N. Day.) Strong, 
upright grower, and needs but little pruning. 
Hardiness 2. (?) Size medium to large; flat, slightly 
inclined to be conical; color when fully ripe, a 
greenish yellow. Better than Wealthy in quality, 
being mildly sub-acid, sprightly, tender in the high- 
est degree, and very agreeable in flavor. Season, 
from September 10 to middle of October. 

Dyer {Pomme Royal). — Tree spreading, moder- 
ately vigorous, not very productive in the west. 
Hardiness 7. Fruit, large round, frequently uneven 
and angular, surface rough like Swaar, and vein 
russeted, dull yellow, not attractive, but of best 
quality. Flesh yellowish, juicy and rich, very 
tender and fine grained. It is among the best des- 
sert apples grown. It is well to try this in the 
north, top-worked on some of the hardy stocks. 

■Maiden Blush. — Tree vigorous spreading, early 
bearer and productive, is among the most profitable 
apples grown where it succeeds. Hardiness 10 in 
nursery and 6 in orchard. If introduced in the north 
it should be procured from the south, far enough to 
insure a sound tree, and the tree should be four 



DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 227 

years old, and very carefully handled. With these 
precautions it is thought to be a profitable tree as 
far north as north central Nebraska. Fruit large, 
flat or oblate, rich, smooth yellow and fine blush on 
the sunny side. Season, September to October, 
quality very good for cooking, but not so good for 
dessert, having some astringency, and too much 
acidity. Valuable for market. 

Prices Sweet. — -Very strong upright grower, both 
in nursery and orchard. Is a perfect tree in nur- 
sery. Hardiness 4 in nursery and 2 in orchard. 
Its only weakness is like the most of our hardiest 
varieties: sun scalding where trunks are not pro- 
tected. 

In Minnesota is said to patch blight at the inter- 
sections of limbs, no such trouble noticed in 
Nebraska. Fruit medium, round oblique conic. 
Yellow, mostly covered with red stripes; very sweet; 
quality only good. Season, November. 

Alexander. — A strong upright grower, good in 
nursery, and makes a very large handsome tree in 
orchard. Origin, Russia. Hardiness 3. Has been 
discarded to a great extent on account of its liability 
to blight. Fruit very large, oblate conical; red 
streaked on yellow ground. Both calyx and basin 
are large and deep; quality poor, flesh is coarse and 
use only the kitchen. Season, October. It is not 
a good bearer. 

AiUumn Strawberry. — Vigorous and healthy in 
nursery, and makes a fine round top tree in the 
orchard. Is a good bearer. Hardiness 4. Fruit 



228 DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 

medium size, round, and streaked and splashed 
with light and dark red. Quality good to very 
good; flesh yellowish, crisp, juicy, acid, with pleas- 
ant flavor. When ripe it is apt to bitter rot at the 
core and spread to the surrounding flesh. 

Lowell. — Tree spreading, vigorous; light green 
foliage and yellowish shoots. Hardiness 4 or better. 
Fruit large and even size, round, yellowish green, 
with a greasy or tallowy excrescence, from which 
it is often called Greasy Pippin or Tallow Pippin. 
Quality very good. Flesh tender and fine grained 
and juicy, with yellowish cast, sub-acid, aromatic. 
Use, dessert and kitchen, and is a fine market va- 
riety. Season, August and September. 

St. Lawrence. — Tree moderate regular grower 
with heavy solidly welded branches, attaining great 
size in the orchard. Of Canadian origin. Hardi- 
ness 3, and extremely productive with age. A very 
profitable autumn variety, and responds quickly to 
a good top dressing of some fertilizer. Fruit round, 
large, rarely conical ; yellow, with most pronounced 
dark red stripes covering the whole surface which 
give it a unique appearance and. once seen will 
never be forgotten. Quality very good, though too 
sour to suit all for dessert; fine for the kitchen. 
Season, October. 

Jeffries. — Tree healthy, moderately vigorous, 
shoots slender, early and abundant bearer. Habit 
diverging to upright. (Its quality should place it 
in every amateur list.) Fruit medium to large, flat. 
Yellow ground splashed crimson. Flesh quite yel- 



DESCRIPl^iON OF APPLES AND PEARS. 229 

low; fine grained and breaking or melting, juicy, 
aromatic and delicious. Quality best; use, table 
and kitchen. Season, September and October. 

Mr. Piper says of this variety : ' 'For early fall we 
have the Jeffries, which is one of the heaviest 
of bearers. I have taken 4}^ bushels off a 
tree less than 4 inches in diameter. The apples 
are equal in flavor to a good pear, and are 
first-class in every respect. Any one who has bought 
the Jeffries once will buy it again if he can get it. ' ' 

We have not tried this apple top worked, but 
think it would be well to try it in some of the 
crabs and the hardiest of the apples, for the 
north. Mr. Piper in the same paper says the Wythe 
Salome and Pewaukee should be top worked, and 
as the Jeffries is not, we presume that in hard- 
iness it will range about with these varieties, or 
better. 

McMahoii' s White. — Tree a fair grower, some- 
what irregular, shoots and bark light colored and 
dotted like the E. G. Russet; foliage, large, light 
green. Hardiness 2. Fruit, large round, some- 
times drawn in at the apex, like the Haas, though 
not so abrupt; color light green and yellowish and 
sometimes faintly blushed on the sunny side. 
Quality good; flesh, white and juicy, and pleasant 
sub-acid flavor. Use, kitchen and market. Good 
bearer. Season, October to through November. 
This is generally placed on the winter lists, but 
keeps about with the Wealthy, or later. 

Peerless. — A Minnesota seedling originated in 



230 DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 

Rice county; seed planted spring of 1868, from 
Duchess apple, supposed to be fertilized by Tal- 
man Sweet. Original tree began to bear in 1875, 
and has produced more bushels of fruit than any 
other tree either of apple or crab in that part of 
the state. It bore 3 bushels in 1878 and kept 
increasing till in 1886 it bore 11 bushels. Mr- 
Harris, the special agent of the government, visited 
the tree in September, 1890, reported it as in fine 
condition. Of the quality of the fruit he said 
in January following, "It is really a better apple 
than the Wealthy. '^ Season not given but sup- 
posed to be fall. 

Catherine. — Another Minnesota seedling with a 
great local reputation. Seed from a seedling 
apple brought from Canada in 1854, to Houston Co. 

This tree is growing ten miles west of the Mis- 
sissippi, and six south of the Root river, on a high 
elevation. The spread of the top is about 30 feet ; 
I foot from the ground, has a diameter of 16 inches, 
and has borne as high as 30 bushels at one time. 

For fear of misleading let us refer to these won- 
derful seedlings again. They only show the pos- 
sibilities of these trees as such, and do not give 
assurance that they can be propagated and be of 
value in the same latitude. 

WINTER VARIETIES. 

Ben Davis. — Tree fine grower, symmetrical, and 
will yield the largest proportion of marketable trees 
from a given number of root grafts of any variety. 



DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 23 1 

Hardiness 5 in nursery and while young in the 
orchard, but when established in the orchard and 
sound, with age, it is as good as 3 or better. This 
rating refers to the Missouri valley. East of 
the great inter-river divide it is very tender in 
the north, especially after it has come into bearing. 

Fruit, large, ovate conic, yellow ground striped 
with carmine, shaded to mottled greenish yellow 
on the shady side. 

Quality barely good, by some rated poor. Flesh 
moderately fine grained, not very juicy, very mild 
sub-acid, and lacks tone in flavor. Season, Decem- 
ber to late winter, and under favorable conditions 
till early summer. 

This is the great market apple of the southwest. 
It is an early and abundant bearer, and if it were 
some hardier, and as good as Grimes' Golden it 
would be the perfection of tree and fruit. It should 
not be grown in the north on very strong soil, but 
rather poorer ones on the highest lands, and if 
care is taken to plant sound trees and get them to 
a bearing age so, they will be found to stand as well 
as the Walbrige, and nearly as well as the Wealthy. 
There are trees near Battle Creek, Nebraska, that 
have been in bearing over twenty years and are 
still very sound and look as if they might be good 
for many more years. 

Notwithstanding its lack in quality and the 
prophecy that it would soon be of little value as a 
market apple ("when people found it out"), it still 
maintains the lead, though this may not be held 



232 DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 

long in the future. Its great beauty, even and uni- 
form size and coloring will make it a hard compet. 
itor to crowd off the market. 

Winesap. — Tree spreading and moderately vig- 
orous, very dark brown shoots and bark, somewhat 
irregular. Hardiness 6. Fruit medium to small. 
As grown in the north it is below medium. Round- 
ovate, and sometimes flat. Color red to deep red. 
Quality very good for table and baking, poor for 
pastry. Flesh firm, and breaking when mellow. 
Rich acid flavor. Is considered a valuable cider 
apple in the southwest where it is much grown, 
and is among the most valuable of the market 
apples. 

Willozv Twig. — Tree spreading, shoots slender 
with drooping habit; foliage and bark light yellow. 
Hardiness 5. Has the reputation of blighting and 
liability to injury from sun scald. Trunk should 
be protected if high, and where planted on high 
well-drained land there will be little trouble with 
blight. 

Fruit large, round, yellow, faintly blushed and 
striped with light red. Quality poor. Will do 
for cooking late in spring, which is its use, except 
for market where its long keeping quality, and fine 
size and beauty will always find for it a good mar- 
ket. A fair but not heavy bearer. 

Jonathan. — Tree not a very strong grower. 
Shoots slender, grayish, with rather sparce light 
foliage. Buds small. Hardiness 6. Fruit, as 
grown in the north, medium or below. In the 



DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 233 

south it is large, round or ovate-conic. Color, 
waxen yellow, finely covered with blush or finely 
striped carmine over its whole surface. Quality, 
best. Flesh, yellowish white, very fine grain, 
juicy, sub-acid, aromatic with a very pleasant fla- 
vor. Season, early winter. 

Rawles Jmict. — Tree fair grower in nursery, with 
an upright spreading habit, shoots, slender and 
taper; grayish olive colored bark; hardiness, 5; fruit, 
medium size, round or obscurely conic; color 
slightly mottled green, and, on the sunny side, 
more or less distinctly striped and blotched light 
and dull red; quality, very good for dessert, poor 
for the kitchen; flesh, fine grained, brittle and juicy, 
very mildly acid; season, late winter and spring. 

Minkler. — Named for S. G. Minkler of Illinois, 
who originated it. Tree very rank grower and 
very irregular; bark light color, shoots darker with 
heavy, thick dark green foliage; in orchard it 
makes a flat top, with heavy drooping branches; 
very productive; hardiness 3 to 4; fruit, medium 
to large, round, greenish yellow, covered with light 
and dull red stripes. Quality, only good; flesli, 
greenish yellow, fine grained and melting wlicn 
fully ripe. Agreeable sub-acid flavor: use, market 
and kitchen. 

Rome Beatity. — Tree, thrifty spreading and pro- 
ductive; shoots, slender with a high color; in orchard 
makes a symmetrical round headed tree. Blossoms 
late, nearly as late as the Janet. Fruit, large to 
very large, roundish ovate; surface, smooth, yellow 



234 DESCRIPTION OI^ APPLES AND PEARS. 

striped and mixed light and dull red. Quality, 
good. Use, market. Flesh yellow, coarse grained, 
sub-acid and lacks tone. Very popular market 
apple in the south west. Season late winter. 

Northivester7t Greening. — This apple is of Wis- 
consin origin, where it is being sought after on 
account of its fine appearance and reputed hardiness, 
although the latter is doubted by some who have 
grown it. However, it is worthy of trial. Size, 
large, 3 to 3J^ inches, shape nearly round, very 
regular, surface very smooth, often green, but yel- 
low when fully ripe, resembles Lowell. Dots scat- 
tering, mostly dark with some very light; basin 
wide, shallow a little folded or gathered; eye, rather 
large, open; cavity, medium, regular, a little russet 
in bottom; stem medium, rather slender; core, large, 
nearly closed; seeds, small plump, grayish brown; 
flesh, yellow, rather coarse, juicy; flavor sub acid; 
quality, good. Season, December to February in 
Wisconsin. (Report of U. S. Pomologists 1886.) 

Scotts Winter. — We have here a variety that is 
a seedling brought to notice by Dr. T. H. Hoskins 
of Newport, Vt. It originated near that place and 
seems to be esteemed in that locality and in some 
of the northwestern states for the hardiness of the 
tree and its brilliantly colored fruit. Although it 
is a little too tart for dessert purposes, it is liked for 
cooking. It is called one of our native ironclads. 
My specimens were from Vermont; size, small, 
about 2>^ inches; flat, conical, irregular, surface 
smooth, light yellow, almost hidden by bright red, 



DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 235 

blotches and stripes; dots minute, almost undiscern- 
ible, light colored; basin deep, narrow, waved; eye 
small, closed; cavity, small, narrow russetted; 
stem, medium to short, slender; core, small 
nearly closed, seeds, small plump, light colored; 
flesh, white, with sometimes a tinge of pink, tender, 
fine grained, juicy; flavor, sub-acid, quite tart, but 
pleasant; quality good; season, December to spring 
in Vermont. (Report of U. S. Pomologists 1886.) 
Iowa Blush.-V^xi^oS. symmetrical, upright grower, 
both in nursery and orchard; shoots and young 
trees recurved and olive green color. Under the 
bark of young thrifty trees will always be found 
warty excrescences not attached to the trees, but 
which can be removed, and are nearly as hard as 
ivory. The outer bark is raised above them, giv- 
ing the tree a warty appearance. A few other trees, 
in rare cases, have this characteristic, but this is 
inseparable from the Iowa Blush. Hardiness, 2; 
fruit below medium, a perfect ovate in form; very 
light greenish yellow, shaded and spotted or 
mottled scarlet on the sunny side. In the middle 
of these scarlet spots are large white dots which 
give the apple a unique appearance, and make it 
one of the handsomest of all apples grown. Quality, 
for cooking very good to best; for the dessert, only 
good. Should be kept from the air until ready for 
use, as it wilts easily and loses its flavor. Season, 
early winter. This tree is very productive, and its 
value in the north is what the Rawles Janet is in 
the south. 



236 DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 

Grimes Golden. — Fair to good grower in the 
nursery. Bark, shoots and foliage, light color. In 
orchard is a very symmetrical roundish upright tree 
with heavy foliage; hardiness, 6; fruit medium size, 
symmetrical, or parallel sides with base and apex 
flattened; irregular; surface smooth at base, russeted 
near apex, and when fully ripe a dark lemon yellow; 
quality best; flesh, yellowish green, fine grained, 
melting and juicy, with a sub-acid aromatic, spicy 
and refreshing flavor. Use, cooking and dessert, 
especially the latter. 

Aliens Choice. — Tree in nursery strong, upright 
grower, resembling the Haas ; hardiness, in nursery, 
5, said to be 3 or better in orchard; fruit, medium, 
roundish ovate, striped with light and dark red; 
coarse grained, but good sub-acid aromatic flavor. 
Season, late winter. 

Wythe. — This is a seedling of the Rawles Janet, 
which it very closely resembles both in tree and 
fruit, being very often mistaken for that variety. 
It will be only necessary to say that it is hardier 
than the Janet, with larger fruit and a little better 
in quality, and without the tendency of that variety 
to over bear; season same as Janet. Said to crack 
and scab as the tree gets age. 

Pattens Greening is thus described by the orig- 
inator, C. G. Patten of Iowa. " A seedling of the 
Oldenburg planted by us in the fall of 1869, has 
borne ten years, and in 1888, after all the trying 
winters, bore fully 5 bushels; stands on trying 
ground, but made a fine growth ; strongly shoul- 



DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 237 

dered, and as hardy in orchard as Duchess. Fruit 
medium size to large, and uniform ; color, light to 
dark green, sometimes shaded with red; flesh white, 
good eating and a superb cooking apple. Season, 
January." 

Walbridge, — Upright, spreading, symmetrical 
grower, and equals, or nearly equals, the Ben Davis 
as a nursery tree. Is a stronger grower, with 
heavy, blunt, light olive-colored shoots, with fre- 
quently heavy pubescence at their ends, where they 
will be larger than at points lower down. Buds 
small and very close on the shoots. Hardiness, 3 
or better; fruit medium size, ovate conic, light 
green, with narrow, broken stripes of light and 
dull red; quality fair to good; flesh greenish white, 
fine grained, not juicy, acid and lacks flavor; use, 
market; season, midwinter. A late bearer. 

SitttojC s Beauty. — Tree symmetrical, upright 
grower, with brownish, cinnamon-colored shoots; 
hardiness, 5; fruit, large, handsome, round, regular; 
surface, smooth, yellow, mottled and splashed car- 
mine; quality, good to very good; flesh, white, 
tender and breaking, melting when fully ripe, and 
very juicy; flavor, sub-acid to acid, pleasant, aro- 
matic; use, kitchen, market and table; season, late 
winter. 

Salome. — Originated in Illinois, where it is very 
popular. This tree has been condemned by the 
Iowa Horticultural Society as too tender for gen- 
eral planting in the state. This is rather too sweep- 
ing a condemnation, as it may be and doubtless is 



238 DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 

of considerable value west of the inter-river divide, 
where it is promising grown on high lands, both in 
the northern and southern districts of the state. 
The tree in nursery is a moderately good grower, 
symmetrical, upright, with a very close top; foli- 
age, light green, large or rather thick leaves, 
inclined to be ruffly; hardiness, 5 to 6; fruit, below 
medium size, ovate conic; color, yellow, partly 
covered with light red, on which are narrow, faint 
stripes of darker red, very handsome; quality, good; 
flesh, yellowish white, fine grained, with pleasant 
sub-acid flavor; use, kitchen and table; season, 
late winter and spring. This apple corresponds in 
size, shape and quality to Iowa Blush, but is a bet- 
ter keeper and not so hardy, probably valuable, 
but should not be planted at present in high lati- 
tudes only in amateur lists till it has established a 
reputation. 

It is recommended to be top worked on Whitney 
No. 20 in northern Illinois. 

Iowa Keeper. — Tree, strong, spreading grower; 
throws out its branches at right angles to the tree; 
hardiness, 2; fruit, medium to large, round, with 
flattened ends ; eye small, calix open ; stem, 
medium, set in deep, narrow basin; color, yellow, 
one-half covered with bright crimson; dots, numer- 
ous, white; season, midwinter to early summer. 
(Day.) 

White Pippin {Canada Pippi'}i). — Its origin is 
obscure, but is supposed to be Canada. Tree, vig- 
orous, upright, productive; shoots, dark, pubes- 



DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 239 

cent; leaves, large, dark green above and downy 
beneath; hardiness, 4; fruit, large, variable in 
form, mostly round and fair; color, pale yellow; 
quality, very good; flesh, yellowish white, coarse 
grained, juicy; flavor, sub-acid to acid; use, cook- 
ing and market; season, early winter. This apple 
is much grown in central Illinois, where it is 
hardy, and it is believed that if introduced it 
would prove hardy in north Nebraska and southern 
South Dakota. 

Cayuga Red Streak (Twenty-Ounce — not Twenty- 
Otince Pippin). — Tree vigorous, early and prolific, 
annual bearer, twiggy, like Northern Spy; shoots, 
slender, highly colored, with large, healthy foliage; 
fruit, very large, nearly round, surface covered 
with light red on greenish ground; quality, good; 
only for kitchen and drying; season, early 
winter. 

Talman Sweet. — Tree vigorous, spreading; in 
orchard it has the appearance of having been 
pruned out, as the limbs and twigs are few, though 
regular and symmetrical; early bearer and moder- 
ately productive; hardiness, 3; fruit, medium or 
above, round, green in fall, turning to fine yellow 
in spring; quality, very good; flesh, firm, white, 
very sweet; use, baking and cider. Not good for 
dessert where a sweet apple is desired, as the flesh 
is tough and never melting, even when over-ripe. 
Has the fault of dropping its fruit prematurely. 

Pezvaiikee. — Origin Wisconsin. Tree strong, 
upright grower in nursery, and maintaining the 



240 DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 

habit in orchard. Not an early bearer, and in 
some localities is not profitable on that account. 
Hardiness, 6; is on the list for northern Illinois, 
where it is said to do well, while in the Missouri 
valley it is not hardy in the north ; should be top 
worked; fruit, large, round, greenish yellow, with 
dull red stripes and splashes; flesh, very coarse, 
but pleasant sub-acid flavor; not rich, but generally 
rated as good; season, early winter. 

Roman Stem. — Tree moderately vigorous, pro- 
ductive and desirable for the north. Hardiness in 
orchard, 4; in nursery, very tender. Trees should 
be grown far enough south to insure their sound- 
ness before planting. Fruit, medium size, round, 
sometimes conical, yellowish green and somewhat 
russeted at apex; quality, very good to best; flesh, 
whitish yellow, fine grained, juicy; flavor, mild 
sub-acid, rich; use, dessert; season, December and 
January. 

Wolf River. — Tree, very strong grower; hardi- 
ness, 6; fruit, large to very large, round or oblate, 
yellow and covered with stripes of mottled red 
and crimson; quality, good, with mild sub-acid 
flavor; season, early winter; sometimes on the /all 
lists. 

Mann. — Has proved too tender so far for any 
place in the west. 

Okabena. — Origin, Minnesota. Said to be a 
seedling of the Duchess fertilized by the Wealthy, 
in 187 1. The parent tree is still standing and is 
healthy and productive; good tree in nursery being 



DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 24 1 

an Upright grower, resembling the Wealthy; hardi- 
ness I to 2. Fruit, medium, roundish oblate; early 
winter and will probably be late fall grown south 
of latitude 42° or 43°. Color, yellow, striped, 
splashed and blushed carmine, very handsome. 
Quality, good. Flesh, fine grained, tender and 
juicy. Not sufficiently tested to warrant extended 
planting but is promising. 

There is a very great variety of very excellent 
and hardy seedlings that are being propagated 
under different names, but it is not thought worth 
while to describe, for however hardy these original 
trees may be they do not transmit it to their 
progeny by any known method of propagating. 
For this reason it should urge upon the planter and 
experimenter the advisability of planting these 
seeds largely, for the regions where apple growing 
is so difficult. 

While it is true that the young trees will in 
nearly every case be very tender, they outgrow 
this if properly handled the first two years. 

I would plant the seeds in drills, and the first fall 
in November bend them over and cover quite 
heavily with some mulch or litter. The next 
summer carefully examine them and mark those 
having heavy, good leaves and a freedom from thorns? 
and at about the same time again in the fall take 
them up carefully and cover root and branch 
about a foot deep, and plant in orchard the next 
spring. 

Where good trees from the nurser}' are sue- 



242 DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 

cessfully grown in the orchard we could not afford 
to start our orchard with seeds, but for the territory 
named and for the purpose of producing new vari- 
eties, this is advisable. 

One of the best seedling orchards in the west is 
that of Mr. Thompson, of Grundy Center, Iowa. 
While in a bad location, the trees are, many of 
them, very large, and have astonished the critics 
many times with their fine, large and good keeping 
apples, which have taken many premiums. 

Some of these have been named and are listed, 
but not yet established of value beyond older sorts 
as grown in the nurseries. 

NEW RUSSIAN APPLES. 

Not having many of these in fruiting we are 
dependent upon the descriptions and opinions of 
others. There is no other fruit that has attracted 
so much attention and elicited so much discussion, 
and where the conclusions are so varied, and the 
contestants so positive either one way or the other. 
After having given this a very careful consideration, 
my conclusions may not be less positive. 

It is evident that many of the most conflicting 
reports may be harmonized. Some are basing 
their conclusions upon the behavior of certain 
varieties against the same with others when the 
names do not refer to the same apple. There is as yet 
but a moderate number of all the importations that 
are distinctly and certainly classified, as established 
the same throughout the United States. For instance, 



DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 243 

some declare that the Hibernal is the same as 
Ivieby, Ostrakof, Glass, Romna, Pendantear, Silken 
leaf, and Juicy burr, while others claim that they 
run in families so closely related that these are or 
may be many of them separate varieties. 

That they have as a class been sorely disap- 
pointing is admitted by their friends, in this that 
(i) they are more subject to blight than our com- 
mon varieties, and (2) they are not hardier (with 
exceptions), and (3) they have not proved to be 
keepers, but mostly summer and fall varieties, and 
(4) they are of poor quality. 

If this were given as a deliberate opinion of the 
entire lot it would not be necessary to prolong this 
chapter, but happily there are exceptions to all, or 
nearly all, the above. 

Another cause should be noticed that has led to 
their condemnation. 

That tree man has seized upon this theme as 
one showing the finest field for extensive cultiva- 
tion. He has opened his picture book and made 
his stake on the "Russians." None know better 
than the nurserymen how few of these sales have 
delivered genuine Russian varieties. Even if they 
have been so, if of the great majority of these 
varieties, they would be better to be almost any- 
thing else. President Morrison, of the Minnesota 
Horticultural Society, gives an instance of a con- 
versation with one of these brush missionaries who, 
he said, was 'Snaking a specialty of the Russians." 
He was asked what was his best winter variety 



244 DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 

and answered, ''I am running the Yellow Trans- 
parent for my best winter apple. ' ' 

As this is one of the earliest of the summer 
apples, if they were even delivered true to name 
the purchaser would not conceive an exalted 
opinion of the keeping qualities of these much 
discussed apples. 

It is the habit of the American people to be very 
sweeping and radical in their conclusions, either in 
praise or condemnation, and in the sweeping con- 
demnation that some have given these trees they 
are sweeping out very much chaff to be sure, but 
with it some grains of pure gold. This is a matter 
of little moment. If they have no need of them 
they lose nothing. 

I think it is not claimed that where such varie- 
ties as the Ben Davis, Jonathan, Winesap, Roman 
stem, Grime's Golden, Iowa Blush, etc. , are easily 
grown that there is any use for the new Russians, 
but they cannot be grown everywhere, and the true 
test of merit in this matter is: Are there any of 
these varieties that can be grown over any consider- 
able territory ivhere any of our other varieties can- 
not be. If a single one can be shown that will take 
such a place, then the time and money used 
in introducing the whole lot has been well spent. 
That there are some, and quite a few, of this char- 
acter there is no doubt whatever. 

The principal value of them will be in the 
extreme north, and especially in the black prairie 
lands of the Mississippi valley, where the growing 



DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 245 

of apples of any kind has been a constant fight, all 
the way from the seed to the bearing tree, and 
quite too often a losing fight. 

Through the kindness of Prof. Budd, of Iowa, a 
special list has been prepared for this work includ- 
ing all varieties which are good to best in quality; 
giving all the seasons of the year; hardy, and as 
free from blight as our common varieties. 

Before introducing this list let us drop a word of 
caution: To get these varieties true to name it will 
be better to correspond direct with some reliable 
nursery, or procure them through the Agricultural 
College of your state. If the orders are given 
through dealers the chances are very remote that 
one, even, will be what is ordered. 

Another caution will be, that where other desir- 
able varieties can be grown there is no need of 
them, and a risk, always, of introducing blight. 

In the spring of 1883 a bulletin was issued by 
the Iowa Agricultural College giving an outline of 
experiments with, and investigations of, some of 
the fruits of the steppe sections of east Europe and 
North Central Asia. Since that time have been 
made several importations of cions and rooted 
plants from the parts of east Europe where the 
summer heat is nearly or quite equal to ours, and 
they have been sent out by thousands for trial 
across the continent on our northern borders. The 
present notes are a summary of the reports received 
from trial stations and of observations on the 
College grounds up to date, of a part of the va- 



240 DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 

rieties and species under the supervision of Prof. 
Budd. 

Blushed Calville, (22 M.) * * * This at 
the west will prove more valuable than Yellow 
Transparent. The tree is much hardier, more 
nearly free from blight, and the fruit is about as 
early, as large in size, is handsomely blushed, and 
it is less perishable and better in quality. 

Anisette. (No. 185.) * * * Of the Duchess 
family and hardier at the North. An annual and 
full bearer of fruit like Duchess, but finer in grain, 
less acid and ^earlier. Will prove valuable over a 
large part of the United States. 

Litbsk Queen. (No. 444.) * * * As hardy 
as Duchess and noted for beauty and continuous 
bearing. Fruit, large, smooth, with varied shades 
of red and pink. Flesh, fine grained, sub-acid and 
very good for so large a fruit. This is placed with 
the summer apples because it colors up early and 
ships well at an early date, but it keeps well at 
fruit stands and can be easily kept through Sep- 
tember. 

Longficld. (No. 161 and 57 M.) * * Tree 
not hardier than Wealthy, but not so liable to sun 
scald. On dry ground will prove very profitable 
up to the north line of the state. An annual and 
full bearer of medium sized yellow fruit, hand- 
somely blushed. Will be popular as it never fails 
to bear, is not excelled for cooking and jelly mak- 
ing, and pleases all for dessert use. After it has 
borne two or three heavy crops it should be 



DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 247 

manured or the heavy crops of fruit will run too 
small. Season, autumn, but with very early pick- 
ing, it will keep nearly as well as Jonathan. 

Gipsy Girl, (56 Vor.) * * * A fine tree in 
nursery and orchard. Fruit, large, smooth and 
remarkably handsome. A famous train-boy apple 
in east Europe. Will be prized over a large part 
of the country. Season, late fall. 

WINTER APPLES. 

Aport Voronesh. * * * "VVe introduce the 
Aport of Central Russia from several points. It 
has been sent out as Aport, 23 M., 4 Vor., and 12 
Orel. We have kept these importations separate, 
but they all appear to be identical. Fruit, large, 
smooth, yellow, with much red in broken stripes 
and splashes. Flesh, yellowish white, slightly 
coarse, sub-acid, aromatic, quality very good for 
any use. Mid-winter here, and will keep through 
winter at the north. 

Ostrakoff. (4 M.) * * * This is hardier 
than Duchess and less subject to blight. An early, 
heavy and continuous bearer, and needs manuring 
to keep up size of fruit after it has borne heavy 
crops. Fruit, medium to large, even in size, yellow. 
Flesh, firm, sub-acid and fine in quality. Mid- 
winter here, and will keep until May on its north 
limit of growth. 

Aport. (No. 252.) * * This was sent us by 
Dr. Regel as the true Winter Aport. It is not 
identical with the Aport Voronesh above noted. It 



248 DEvSCRIPTlON OF APPLES AND PEARS. 

is proving to be an early and continuous bearer, 
and promises to be very valuable. Fruit, medium 
to large, oblate, yellow, with splashes and stripes 
of red and crimson. Flesh, fine grained, sub-acid, 
nearly best in quality. 

Kegel, (No. 169.) * * * This was received 
by the College from Dr. Regel, of St. Petersburg, 
under the name of Green Sweet. But a mistake 
was evidently made as this is not sweet, has a fine 
color and is a late keeping winter apple. It much 
resembles Repka Malenka in shape and color, but 
it is larger in size and of better quality. In season 
and flavor it is much like Rawles Janet. 

Zuzoffs Winter. (No. 585.) * * In the 
Bulletin of 1890 we did not credit this as a very 
hardy variety. Our recent reports show it to be as 
hardy as Wealthy and less subject to blight. It is 
an annual bearer on account of its very late period 
of blossoming in the spring. Fruit large to very 
large, beautifully colored, fine grained, tender, 
mildly acid and nearly equal to Northern Spy in 
quality. Season about that of Grimes Golden. In 
tree it is not hardier than Wealthy and it should 
be top-worked in trying positions in North Iowa. 

Boiken. * * A variety imported from Tran- 
sylvanis. It is now a favorite variety in Eastern 
France. The tree seems to be as hardy as Wealthy, 
and is an early and continuous bearer. Fruit 
medium to large, yellow, with handsome carmine 
stripes and splashes. Flesh snow white, fine 
grained, sub-acid and best in quality. Season, late 



DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 249 

winter. Will be very valuable for top working at 
the north. 

THE CRAB APPLES. 

'In the past wc have propagated and sent out for 
trial some of the most promising varieties and 
hybrids of the Siberian crabs. But at this time we 
have decided that their place is taken by such 
varieties of the Russian apples as the Longfield, 
Marble, Recumbent and other sorts. 

''The Ivongfield, for instance is superior to any 
of the crabs for jelly, marmalade, pies, sauce, etc. 
It is also a better bearer and its fruit has a value 
for dessert use. The only crab we now pronounce 
valuable is the one known as Virginia crab, which 
is only valuable as a stock for top- working, but it 
is not as valuable for this use as the members of 
the Hibernal family." 

GENERAL NOTES. 

"It will be urged by friends who have had con- 
siderable experience in growing and fruiting the 
east European fruits that we have omitted some of 
the varieties they have found most valuable, and 
included a number with which they have not been 
wholly satisfied on account of blight or some other 
caiise. 

"But it must be kept in mind that this is a 
report on the varieties and species we will distrib- 
ute at this time, and that varied soils, elevations 
and exposures bring us varying reports. The notes 
as now given are a summary of the behavior on 



250 DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 

our own grounds and on the grounds of a large 
proportion of our reporters over an immense area 
of our country. ' ' 

We cannot too strongly impress the importance 
of planting apple trees on the highest and dryest 
land available, and furnishing no protection on the 
north and west. If the elevation is not more than 
10 feet above the general level of the adjacent 
lands, it is a great advantage in furnishing air drain- 
age, equalizing the temperature in summer and les- 
sening danger from frosts in the blossoming period. 

Another benefit resulting from the selection of 
dry soil is that it permits deeper setting, which is 
a protection to the tender roots we are compelled 
to use in root-grafting. 

If compelled to set the family orchard on low, 
black colored soil, get our selection of best varie- 
ties for such soil, set the trees shallow and ridge up 
for drainage and root protection. 

We sent out low headed trees, and our advice is 
to keep them low. In setting, lean the trees at a 
strong angle toward the one o'clock sun. They 
will have an awkward appearance at first but they 
will soon become erect. 

In the above lists, three stars (* * *) indi- 
cate the variety to be hardier on suitable soils than 
the Duchess; two stars (* *) indicate the variety 
to be hardier than Wealthy, except as noted in 
special cases. One star (*) indicate the variety to be 
hardy as Roman Stem, except as noted in special 
cases. {Russian apple report by Prof. Budct). 



DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 25 ± 

Excelsior. — This with the three following is a 
seedling originated by Peter M. Gideon, of Minne- 
sota, the originator of the Wealthy. Tree from 
Wealthy seed, strong npright grower, said to be 
as hardy as Dnchess. Frnit, niedinm to large. 
Color, light yellow; striped with bright red. 
Onality, best. Season, September. 

October. — Strong grower, and profuse annual 
bearer of large red apples, clear acid, a first-class 
culinary apple. From crab seed. 

Gideon. — A good rather upright grower; fruit, 
medium size to large, yellow with a vermillion 
blush on the sunny side. Quality, mild sub-acid 
and very good. November. 

Peter. — This the originator calls "the best of all 
apples." The description following, like those 
before, is his, and some allowance will be made 
for the possible partiality which might exist on 
this account. "Origin, Wealthy seed, and in form, 
size and color the exact duplicate of that apple, but 
differing in flavor and season, keeping from 4 to 6 
weeks longer. The fruit adheres well to the 
tree, and in tree it is a little hardier than Duchess, 
yet we would not recommend it as far north as 
some of our extra hardies, though it stood top 
grafted in 1884-5, where it made 4 feet of growth 
and bore apples the following season near the 
Wealthy and some of the Russians that failed to 
bear an apple. At the Iowa state fair in 1886 the 
Peter apple was pronounced by the judges to be 
superior to the Wealthy in ever>' respect." 



252 DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 

In a private letter Mr. G. says that this apple 
was not fully tested when the list was made and 
that the apple is a keeper; keeping in his cellar 
when picked early, till August. It will be remem- 
bered that the Wealthy as grown at his place is a 
fair keeping winter apple, while in this latitude it 
is a fall apple, therefore it will not be best to rely 
on this as a winter sort when grown in 42 and 
below. As to the hardiness of these apples there 
can be very little doubt, as the mercury there occa- 
sionally touches 45 below, and 35 very often. 

PEARS. 

It is better for the ordinary fruit grower for home 
consumption to plant pears very sparingly, as they 
are not, as a rule, successfully grown in any part of 
the northwest east of the mountains. There are 
plenty of these varieties that are hardy enough so 
far as ability to endure cold is concerned, but when 
about the bearing size, they are very apt to die 
with fire blight, or pear blight. This disease is 
claimed by the scientists to be different from the true 
apple blight, but that it will spread from one of these 
trees to the other, there is no doubt in my mind. 

Flemish Beauty is the best of all the older varie- 
ties, and the freest from blight, is a moderately 
strong grower, branching to a spreading top, early 
bearer; productive, and of very good quality. 

Bessimianca. — This is of Russian origin, and 
less liable to blight than the foregoing, but inferior 
in quality. Tree a slow though regular grower, 



DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 253 

with very dark bark, and dark heavy foliage. Fruit 
medium size, green or faintly blushed or russeted; 
seedless. 

Kieffers Hybrid. — Cross, Sand pear and Bartlett. 
Tree a very strong and very upright grower, yel- 
lowish bark and glossy good foliage. It is tender 
while young in northern Nebraska, but becomes 
hardier with age, and will probably be grown to 
some extent there. Fruit is large and handsome. 
Not of best quality, but will always demand a good 
price for market, and is, when fully ripe, fair for 
dessert. Not as subject to blight as Flemish Beauty. 

Idaho. — This has come to us from its western 
home as a priceless gem, but it has proved here to 
be tender and subject to blight. It is valuable 
where it originated. 

Kiirskaya. (392.) — Said by Prof Budd to be 
very hardy, and free from blight on all soils. Fruit 
Bergamot shaped, medium size and excellent qual- 
ity. Russian. 

Mongolian Snow Pear. — This is hardier in tree 
than Flemish Beauty, and its leaves are always 
clean, handsome and perfect. On dry soil it will 
prove valuable up to the 42d parallel. It is a 
regular bearer, even in such unfavorable seasons as 
that of 1892. Fruit above medium in size, and 
when ripened in the house it is much better in 
quality than Kieffer, Le Conte or any of the Chinese 
pears we have tasted grown in the south. It should 
be ripened in the house and can be kept until late 
in autumn. {Budd.) 



254 DESCRIPTION OF APPLES AND PEARS. 

WJiitney No. 20. Apple. Called ''Whitney 
Crab." — Tree, a moderate very upright grower; 
shoots, dark and stout; foliage heavy dark green; 
hardiness 2 in nursery, i in orchard; fruit, small to 
medium, conical, yellow nearly covered with red, 
faintly striped; quality very good; season, August 
and September. 

Hislop Crab. — Tree, strong upright grower, 
making a round head in orchard. Hardiness, i; 
fruit, nearly 2 inches in diameter, conical, dark red, 
almost black, quality good until too ripe, when it 
becomes mealy and tasteless; season, October to 
November. 

There are probably 50 or more varieties of crab 
apples and hybrids which are crosses between the 
apple and crab that are of more or less value ; some 
of them for high northern latitudes are very valu- 
able, but as a class they are very much subject to 
blight, and tkeir dissemination should on this 
account be discouraged. The Martha, Gen. Grant, 
Strawberry, Minnesota, and Briars Sweet are 
reasonably free from it, but all are too well-known 
to require description. 

Yellow Transparent. — (This was omitted in its 
order and inserted here.) Tree, fairly good grower; 
shoots yellow; foliage light green; hardiness, 2 to 
3; said to blight badly south and east but has not 
blighted here to any great extent; is an early and 
good bearer. Fruit medium or above; color, 
golden yellow; quality, very good; season, August 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Evergreens. 

THERE is a very general impression that these 
trees will not grow snccessfully west of the 
inter-river divide, especially in the north. It 
seems to be true of many varieties that they cannot 
be grown as easily, and do not generally grow as 
rapidly in this location as in places further east, 
and along the Mississippi valley. For instance the 
Norway Spruce, which is among the best and fast- 
est growing of all in northeastern Iowa, is almost 
a failure in northeastern Nebraska and southern 
South Dakota. On the other hand, the Scotch 
pine seems to do as well or nearly as well here as 
in the more favored eastern locations. The west- 
ern cedars also do quite as well, but are not quite 
as rapid growers. There are several other varieties 
that do well here and will be described hereinafter. 
The principal reason for the impression that we 
can not grow these trees here is that they have 
had, in transplanting such inexcusably bad treat- 
ment that the surprise is, more that any grow, than 
that some or many die. 

It is in the first place of little use to bother with 
^ny other than a nursery grown tree to start with, 

255 



256 EVERGREENS. 

and this may not be what we are looking for either. 
If it has been transplanted several times, or cut 
under, so as to cause it to throw out a new system 
of small roots from near the tree, it is a proper tree 
for our purpose, and with careful handling we will 
make a success in changing it from the nursery to 
its new habitation. The object we attain by this 
transplanting or root pruning, is the cutting off of 
straggling long roots and compelling a new growth 
that we can secure when we lift it. If we could 
practically get all these long roots and preserve 
them carefully, the tree would be assured to grow 
as if we had given it the above described treat- 
ment, but this is so near impossible as to be so 
practically. 

A tree for the lawn should be any where from 3 
feet upward, according to the price the purchaser 
is willing to pay, and the risk he is willing to take 
with it. After a tree is 3 feet high it is as sure to 
grow as it will be at any time after, and as it gets 
more age and size the chances are that we shall get 
a lesser proportion of roots to the top and thereby 
decrease our chances of success. Unless staked 
solidly after planting, too, the larger trees are more 
apt to be loosened by the winds. 

Another cause has added to the supposed uncer- 
tainty of introducing them, which is the practice of 
planting them in the lawn or front yard in the 
grass. This is where they want them, but they do 
not want to grow there, and will not without 
many precautions being taken. In many cases 



EVERGREENS. 257 

this yard has been raised by earth from the bottom 
of the cellar, and as the bottom comes out last this 
top soil is apt to be too poor to grow even a fair 
crop of weeds. "Whatever is worth doing is worth 
doing well" and it is better to plant but a few trees 
and do it well than to plant many, half do it and 
lose the most of them. 

In making these suggestions, and giving the 
directions that will follow, it is assumed that the 
tree is a good one and that the nurseryman has done 
his duty, which is not by any means the case always. 
Sometimes trees are sent out in such bad con- 
dition that no treatment could possibly save them. 

If every one who reads the foregoing would heed 
it carefully, and follow the directions, there would 
be little loss sustained on account of the planter, 
but we feel like repeating, in order to give empha- 
sis to this matter of protecting the roots of ever- 
greens while out of the ground. 

It seems that the ordinary planter does not 
believe that the evergreen grower has not exagger- 
ated in the requirement of absolute protection. 

When he says that under some conditions an 
evergreen will be killed by an exposure in the sun 
of ten seconds or less, it is not thought that it is to 
be taken literally, but to mean that more care must 
be exercised in handling them than the ordinary 
fruit trees. It does mean literally just that, and if 
the instructions are followed, thousands of trees 
will be saved where they are lost by pursuing a 
less rigid attention to the instructions. 



258 EVERGREENS. 

Dr. Lyons says: "We must not even allow the 
earth to dry on the outside of the evergreen roots, 
if we want the trees to live." 

There are plenty of these trees of the best varie- 
ties that will do exceedingly well in the northwest- 
ern part of Iowa, northeastern Nebraska and the 
whole of South Dakota and Minnesota, and when 
they are placed in the hands of the planter in good 
condition, and then handled by him as directed, 
they will be extensively grown as they should 
be. 

Fruit and forest trees may be handled more care- 
lessly and recover, but not so with the evergreen. 
The sap is resinous, and by some chemical com- 
bination is held in solution in the fluids so 
long as they are kept moist, but almost as soon as 
the outer surface of the roots and rootlets become 
dry, this resin is deposited in the cells which are 
thereby clogged, and the tree is as truly dead from 
that moment as it will be in a month after it is 
planted when the last needle has dried up and 
gone, and it stands there a dry and red monument 
to what was once a "thing of beauty." 

There is another cause of the failure to meet 
evergreens here as we do in the Mississippi valley ; 
that is the lack of adaptation of varieties to our cli- 
mate. We have been groping in the darkness for 
more than a hundred years ; longer than the 'chil- 
dren of Israel were looking for the promised land. 
We have tried to acclimatize to our dry atmosphere 
the eastern trees, and those from foreign countries, 



EVERGREENS. 259 

where the air is constantly humid. Where the 
conditions even approximated those of the home 
of the tree, in this respect, there has been 
the nearest approach to success, as in the Austrian 
pine; and where these conditions were the most 
dissimilar, the failure has been the greatest; as in 
the Irish Junipers. The white pine is an illustra- 
tion of the value and vitality of our northwestern 
kinds, but this has been neglected, for the reason 
that it was "too common," exactly what should 
have crowded it to the front. 

Now, and strange enough quite recently, we have 
discovered right here at home at the west of us, trees 
that are unapproachable in hardiness by any of the 
eastern or foreign kinds, and peerless hi beaiUy. 
The scholars; the art students of the world; the 
critics of exclusive New England; the poet, the 
botanist, all worship at these shrines of beauty. 
Their loveliness cannot be described in words; one 
must see them to appreciate them, and if that one 
has one little spark of love of the beautiful, it will 
be kindled into a grand fire of devotion when for 
the first time they stand face to face. These are 
principally the western White spruce, the Pungens; 
Concolor and Douglass spruces described hereafter. 

At present the scarcity and great demand for 
these trees hold them at high prices, but this will 
soon change, and when they can be procured 
abundantly and cheaply, all other kinds will retire 
before them, and the revolution will be an accom-. 
plished fact. 



26o EVERGREENS. 

These hardy and beautiful evergreens are strik- 
ing illustrations of "the eternal fitness of things." 

For a grove of evergree^i trees they may be from 
I to I ^ feet high without the necessity of shad- 
ing, provided they have been transplanted as 
described. Better always send to the nursery where 
you know they are grown, than to give orders to 
unknown parties. This may sometimes do just as 
well but one time with another it will lead to dis- 
appointment. If a smaller tree of the ordinary 
kinds is to be used for the grove it will be safer to 
shade them in some artificial manner. It is not 
good to plant them as some do in an improvised 
nursery, along the north side of a row of willows, 
as they will reach out their roots and rob our plants. 
It is well, however, in such a case to plant them in 
nursery rows, running north and south and quite 
closely in the row with a view of protecting them 
partially by the shade of each other. Trees of the 
size last described can be planted in such a row 
about I foot apart. In massing them in this way 
they are more easily shaded, and after two years' 
cultivation can be planted out where they are to 
remain. In this way we shall get a full stand in 
the grove. 

It will not be necessary to give minute instruc- 
tions for handling them when first coming into the 
hands of the planter, he will keep in mind at all 
times that the roots must not be dried for a single 
half minute, it is not necessary, and any one can 
find a way to avoid it. 



EVERGREKNS. 261 

If trees are for the law7t it is still a good plan to 
plant them out first in some cultivated ground for 
say, two years, when advantage can be taken of a 
favorable time to remove them to their permanent 
homes, and it can be done with such care as to 
make success a certainty. 

This treatment is not absolutely necessary, as 
they may with proper care be introduced to the lawn 
at first. To do this we must dig a hole considerably 
larger than the roots seem to require, and if the 
soil is not good carry it away and use earth from 
some other place where it is good for filling back. 
When refilled to the required depth, set in the tree 
with the roots in natural positions, and be sure 
that the earth is thoroughly worked in among the 
roots to fill all the interstices. This must be done 
with the ungloved hand. No water will be 
required if the earth is naturally moist so as to 
readily " pack" in the hand. If not it must be 
made so. 

The earth being all back in its place and the 
roots all nicely covered to the depth of 4 or 5 
inches, tread it as hard around the roots as it can 
be made by the stamping, and weight of a heavy 
man. It will not get too solid. Some use a pav- 
ing maul, commencing as soon as the roots are 
sufiiciently covered to avoid injury, and pounding 
as solidly as it can be done, but usually the weight 
of a man vigorously applied will be sufficient. 

If in digging the hole it is found that the ground 
is very dry it should be filled with water and 



262 EVERGREENS. 

allowed to dry away a few times before planting. 
For this reason it is well to have the holes dug 
some time before the trees arrive. 

When they are planted with little care in the 
sward and fail, the nurseryman is assured that they 
were well watered all summer. This he thinks is 
true, but in reality it is more than likely that not 
one little drop of water has reached one root during 
the entire summer. 

I have often likened this watering by throwing 
on a pail of water to throwing water on the roof of 
a house to water the house plants within. Try it 
sometime, throw down one pail of water on the 
sod, and after it has soaked away we shall find that 
it has soaked down only from i to 2 inches. 

To water these trees in such a place we must 
prepare for it before the tree is planted. Bore 
two holes down about 2 feet, and about 3 feet 
apart, with a post auger, or other implement, and 
plant the trees between them. These holes may 
be filled with any coarse litter, brick bats, or cobble 
stones, and about once a mouth during the summer, 
if there is not a sufficient rainfall, fill them with 
water and after soaking away fill once more. A 
board may be placed over these holes to prevent 
accident as well as to fill them, only they are apt 
to be removed. 

Shading will be found beneficial, or rather pro- 
tecting from the severe drying south winds. This 
is done easily by nailing together a few pieces of 
old boards into a square shield some larger than 



EVERGREENS. 263 

the tree is high. A stake is then driven into the 
ground on the south side of the tree, quite closely, 
and leaning heavily to the north, to which the 
shield is nailed. This is a very important precau- 
tion, and is of little trouble. These shields can be 
prepared at any time before the trees arrive, and if 
small trees are to be used one wide board will 
answer. 

Some have been successful by using a barrel 
with the heads knocked out and a few staves also 
displaced on the north side. If staked up a few 
inches from the ground it will answer, but there is 
danger of placing it in such a shape that the hot 
sun will get full force into the barrel in a still day, 
and the protection be worse than nothing. The 
flat square board shield is the better. These will 
not be required there but one year, when they can 
be safely removed. 

The artificial shading for the small row of trees 
may be made by setting small stakes at intervals 
in the row, nailing crosspieces to their tops, and 
then nailing a wide board to these, or branches of 
trees, or a lattice of corn stalks or lath. 

Pruning or Cutting Back is done for the purpose 
of lessening the evaporating surface of the foliage 
to correspond with the loss of roots. It also will 
generally add to the appearance of the tree to shorten 
it in all around. It will . do no harm to cut out 
the buds, even if the center shoot on such trees as 
the spruce and balsams are removed by accident or 
otherwise, new buds, called adventitious, will be 



264 EVERGREENS. 

produced from the cambium layer under the bark 
and grow through it and replace the lost member. 
This shortening in should be done severely. Sup- 
pose a tree has a diameter of head of about 2 feet 
reduce it to about i foot, cutting so as to bring 
the tree into a symmetrical form. 

If you have a hedge of any of the evergreens that 
is irregular, prune it to the desired shape, but do it 
while in the growing season, so as to stunt it and 
thicken it up. 

Many evergreens make all their season's growth 
in a month or less, growing very rapidly during 
this time, frequently 2 inches per day. These 
are such as the spruces, pines and balsams, 
while the Cedars, Arbor Vitaes and Junipers 
grow like a deciduous tree through the most of 
the season. 

Growing Evergreens from Seed is only per- 
formed successfully by experts, and is not profitable 
unless grown in such quantities as to warrant the 
planter in devoting his whole attention to it. 
These seeds mostly germinate very readily, but are 
destroyed by a hot sun in a .short time. They 
require some sun, but it is admitted to them 
through lattice work, or screens of some kind that 
will alternate sunshine and shade during the day. 
Lath frames are made for this purpose, 4 feet wide 
by about 6 or 8 feet long, the space between the 
laths is the width of a lath, and the beds 3 to 4 
feet wide. These beds should be run east and west, 
so the lath will be north and south, otherwise some 



EVERGREENS. 265 

of the trees would be constantly in the sun, while 
others would be shaded the same. 

Some seasons are much more favorable for doing 
this work than others. When we have frequent 
showers followed by hot sunshine, and hotter winds 
they are almost sure to "damp off," unless extra 
care is used to prevent it. Damping off is the kill- 
ing of the young plants at the ground surface, 
while the roots and tops are all right. This does 
not occur when they are self sown under the parent 
tree, and it is supposed that the thick bed of needles 
which always is found there is the secret of this. 
We may take a hint from this and cover our seed 
beds, as soon as the seed is planted, with these 
needles to the depth of a half-inch. The plants 
will find their way through. We have used coarse 
sawdust with fair results, but the nearer we can 
approach nature the better. 

The seed should be sown quite thickly, and very 
lightly covered. The beds should be prepared by 
working the earth as finely as possible. Some sift 
all the earth that they use through a sieve of about 
18 meshes to the inch. When the beds are so pre- 
pared, and the ground smoothed and patted level 
the seed are sown, and covered by sifting on more 
earth till they are covered to the depth of about J^ 
of an inch when it is patted down again, the needles 
applied, and this is ready for the germination. The 
screens should not be placed on till there is a show 
of plants pricking through. Should the weather 
be very dry after the seeds are planted, it may be 



266 EVERGREENS. 

necessary to water, as the seeds being planted so 
shallow must be kept in moisture to secure their 
growth. 

These plants will remain in the seed beds two 
years, when the strongest will be removed and the 
weaker ones allowed to remain another year. They 
are removed to the open ground and there shaded 
as has been before described. 

A light, sandy soil, well mixed with vegetable 
mould is the best for these seed beds, and if the 
soil is tenacious, it is improper and should be 
mixed as above. It will be time well spent 
to get leaf mould that is fine and well disinte- 
grated and mix with sand, and then mix again 
with about equal quantities of this heavier soil, 
where such, or similar soils are not at hand for 
the beds. 

The practice of Robert Douglass was to shade 
with artificial bowers, made by setting posts in the 
ground standing about 8 feet high; to these are 
nailed crosspieces to support boughs or trees, which 
are then placed on in sufficient quantities to make 
a natural broken shade. 

In the ordinary lath frame seed beds, ic will be 
well to vSet small stakes along the edges, to which 
will be nailed fence boards resting upon the ground 
on which the lath frames will rest. 

A very small space will grow an immense num- 
ber of these trees, and it has occurred to me that 
these beds for small plantations might be made in 
boxes and kept under cover in a well lighted 



EVERGREENS. 2(i^ 

building. Here the sun, hot winds and supply of 
rain could be controlled. 

A pound of Norway Spruce seeds will sow a 
strip about 4 feet wide by 20 in length and will be 
about 58,000 seeds. 

The following table compiled by Mr. Douglass 
will give the number of different seeds to the 
pound, and will be a guide in sowing: 

SPRUCES (aBIES). 

A. Normanuiana, Nordmans fir 8,000 

A. Pectinata, Common silver fir 8,000 

A. Piclita, Siberian silver fir 40,000 

A. Fraseri, Frasers Balsam fir 45,000 

A. Canadensis, Hemlock spruce 100,000 

A. Excelsa, Norway spruce 58,000 

A. Alba,, White spruce.... 160,000 

A. Concolor, Colorado spruce 

Piceapungens, Colorado blue or "silver" spruce..! 10, 000 
Pseudotsuga Douglassii, Douglass spruce 45,000 

CEDAR. 

C. Atlantica, African Cedar , 7,000 

PINES (PINUS). 

P. Cembra, Cembran pine 2,700 

P. Strobus, White pine 20,000 

P. Austriaca, Austrian pine 28,000 

P. Silvestris, Scotch pine 69,000 

P. lyaricio, Corsicanpine 33,000 

P. Rigida, Pitch pine <..« 66,000 

P. Pinaster, Sea side pine 12,000 

P. Ponderosa, Yellow pine 16,000 

r^ARCH (l,ARIX). 

Larix Europa, European Inarch 70,000 

ARBORVITJE O. (thuja). 

T. Occidentallis, American arborvitae 320,000 

ARBORVIT^ ORIENTAI.I.IS (BIOTA O.) 

Biota Occidentallis 33,000 

PEAR. 

Common seeds 12,000 

Aoole 12,000 



268 EVERGREENS. 

Scotch Pine. — Is one of the most satisfactory of 
the coarser kinds and is very easily transplanted. 
At one time it was considered as a perfect tree for 
shelter belts, and even for ornament had a place 
with many. Time, however, has proved it to be 
less valuable than was supposed. Its fault is in 
becoming ragged and unsightly after it has stood 
about 20 years. It is when young very vigorous, 
and when pruned back occasionally to keep it 
within bounds is very handsome, and will for these 
reasons still occupy a prominent place in the lists. 

White Pine. — Is the timber tree of the great 
northwestern forests, and for this purpose it has no 
rival. Those who have been brought up with it 
hardly appreciate its beauty, as the NewBnglander 
does not the Hemlock. He has become so accus- 
tomed to it, and perhaps fought his way to a very 
poor farm by years of hard toil over the ashes of 
these trees. It is nevertheless among the most 
beautiful of all. No other tree has such soft and 
feathery needles; no other tree can make quite the 
mournfully delicious music, as the wind sighs 
through its branches, and the manner in which the 
long lithe swaying branchlets pack together on the 
wind side to make it "air-tight" is peculiar to this 
tree alone. I^ong live the white pine, the great 
North American evergreen. It is one of the sad- 
dest commentaries on the greed and destructiveness 
of man, that this magnificent tree in its natural 
forest is slowly but surely fading away before his 
devastating and triumphal march. The white 



EVERGREENS. 269 

pine forests of New England are of the past, and if 
the present rate of depletion in the northwest is 
continued, which it is hoped it will not be, many 
are living now who will see the last giant fall, and 
the last immense raft of logs float slowly down the 
Mississippi. Even now the devastation has reached 
such a state that the climate of that region is much 
changed. Where the beech, hickories and pecans 
grew readily within my memory, they now barely 
maintain their existence. 

It is believed that this tree has been of greater 
value to mankind than any other, and its perpetua- 
tion in large tracts is the duty of mankind in 
return. It is readily grown, and over a very wide 
area, adapting itself to more different soils than 
any other conifer. 

"Ours is no seedling, chance sowed by the fountain, 

Blooming at Beltane, in winter to fade; 
When the whirlwind has stripped every leaf on the mountain, 
The more shall Clan Alpine exult in thy shade. 
Moored in the rifted rock, 
Proof to the tempest's shock, 
Firmer he roots him the ruder it blow; 
O that some seedling gem. 
Worthy such noble stem, 
Honored and blest in thy shadow might grow." 

Aicstrian Pi7ie. — Is so near like the Scotch, as 
to be distinguishable only by those habituated to 
seeing both, when the difference is marked. The 
branches are heavier and more rigid, and the 
general expression is more rugged and coarse. 
The buds are quite different, the former being 
lighter colored, sometimes so bubescent as to be 



270 EVERGREENS. 

nearly white; plump at their base and running to 
a slim, sharp point, while the latter are longer, 
blunt and darker colored. It is not hardier than 
the Scotch pine, but holds its age better. It is 
considered very valuable in its native home in the 
mountainous parts of Austria, where it grows to 
the height of 1 50 feet in some cases. 

Yellow Pine (Pinus ponderosa) Dough, var. scop- 
ulortcm Engelm. — A medium-sized tree with red- 
dish bark, and a yellow, rather resinous wood. 
The leaves are from 3 to 5 inches long; and are in 
twos or threes. The cones are 2 to 3 inches 
long, and ripen in the fall of the second year. 

This interesting tree, which occurs so abundantly 
in the Rocky mountains, is the only pine native to 
Nebraska. It forms quite dense forests in the 
northwestern and northern portions of the state, 
extending from the Wyoming line along Pine 
Ridge and the Niobrara river to lyong Pine creek 
in Brown and Rock counties. It occus also on the 
North Platte river as far eastward as Deuel county. 
In the IvOUp valley it originally grew in many can- 
yons, and remnants still occur in Valley, Greeley 
and Custer counties. It appears to be wanting in 
the Republican valley. 

This is one of the hardiest of the pines. Fine 
trees occur abundantly upon the sides and summits 
of the rocky hills of the north and northwest por- 
tions of the state. Good trees may be seen in 
Dawes county, growing in the tough prairie sod, 
with nothing to protect the trunk or roots from the 



EVERGREENS. 27 1 

heat. A study of the tree in its native habitat 
shows that it requires very little moisture either in 
the soil or the air. It appears to be one well suited 
for planting in the central and western portions of 
the state. 

This tree grows in the higher altitudes of the 
state, ranging from more than 5,000 feet above the 
sea on Pine Ridge (in Sioux and Dawes counties) 
to about 2,500 feet on the Niobrara (in Rock and 
Keya Paha counties). On the North Platte it ranges 
from nearly 6,000 feet (in Scott's Bluff county) to 
about 3,500 feet (in Deuel county). In Custer 
county it grows at an elevation of about 2,500 feet, 
while in Valley and Greeley counties it descends 
to about 2,000 feet above sea level. {Univ. Bulle- 
tin No. 18. Prof. Bessy.) 

This tree must be handled with great care as it 
is not easily transplanted. 

Mountain pine. (P. Montana or P. Mugho). — Is 
a dwarf species found growing throughout the 
Rocky Mountains, and in Montana. Its foliage, or 
needles are like the Scotch pine, and its expression 
is that of a dwarf tree of that species. It grows but 
a foot or little more in height, and spreads out by 
the weight of its own branches bringing it to the 
ground. It holds its color well in winter, and is 
valuable for such situations on the lawn as require 
evergreen bushes of this kind. 

Red Cedar. — A medium, rather slow growing 
tree that is well known. There are two species 
found in the west, that, although quite closely 



272 EVERGREENS. 

resembling each other, prove to be practically very 
different, as that from the north, sometimes called 
Platte river or Niobrara river cedar is entirely 
hardy, and among the most valuable of all the 
evergreens for a hardy wind break, while the 
southern cedars are tender in the north. The objec- 
tion to it for ornament is its discoloring so badly 
in winter when it becomes unsightly. Its timber 
is valuable for posts, or other uses that require an 
indestructible material. Fence posts have stood 
in sandy lands for forty years, and been still quite 
sound. 

Silver Cedar. — This is a species from the Rockies, 
and like so many of those mountain evergreens, has 
the same silvery cast, which makes it quite dis- 
tinguishable from the foregoing. It is not hardier, 
but holds its color better in winter, and is a more 
beautiful tree at all times. 

American Arborvitce, — This makes the best and 
largest trees of all the Arborvitaes, though there 
are others that, for ornamental purposes, are supe- 
rior. The Arborvitses do not have a foliage of 
needles like the other evergreen conifer9e,but have 
a two-edged branchlet, with inbricated leaves, is 
pungent, and the aroma from the bruised leaves is * 
pleasing. It stands shearing into any desired form, 
and for this reason is much used in ornamental 
architecture. In its native state it grows well up 
to the Arctic ocean, generally in low or swampy 
places, where it attains a height of 40 to 60 feet, 
and is much used for telegraph poles. Is fairly 



EVERGREENS. 273 

successful in the west, though on dry soils and dry 
exposures it grows slowly, and browns considerably 
in winter. 

Siberian Arborvitcr. — This is a variety of the 
above, has darker foliage, is more compact, and 
holds its color better in winter. It grows very 
slow, and is useful on the lawn where trees or large 
shrubs of this sort are needed. It has no connec- 
tion with vSiberia. 

Globosa ArborvitcB. — Called also "Roundhead." 
Is in habit much like the foregoing, but much more 
compact and symmetrical, being frequently almost 
perfect globes without shearing. It is lighter 
color, and valuable as a lawn tree, seldom growing 
beyond 2 or 3 feet in height. 

Pyrmnidallis Arborvitce, — This is one of the best 
of all these sports from the American, for orna- 
mental uses. Its habit is sharply upright, trees 
10 feet high, being naturally but 2 or 3 feet in 
diameter at the ground. It holds its color as well 
as any and better than the most. It has a habit of 
sending up several central stems, but they do not 
show as they hug as close to the main body as if 
they were tied there. It should be in every good 
lawn, and will always attract attention and admira- 
tion. 

This variety like all the other sports is propa- 
gated mostly by layering, or from cuttings with bot- 
tom heat. There is another tree of the same name 
on the foreign lists that reproduces from seed. We 
have the plants but a foot high. It seems to be 



274 EVERGREENS. 

hardy but browns worse if possible in winter than 
the red cedars. 

Norzvay Spruce. — This has been in the near past 
perhaps the most popular of all the spruces. Bryant 
says it is more valuable than either the White or 
Black, and Michaux says it grows to the height of 
150 feet in its native country, and requires 100 
years to mature. As an ornamental tree in the 
State of Illinois and the eastern half of Iowa it is, 
when young, or was before the advent of the spruces 
from the Rockies, without a peer, where a grand 
stately tree of large size is required, but after pass- 
ing twenty or thirty years it loses its symmetry, 
becomes ragged and unsightly, measureably, in the 
locations described, but to a very marked degree in 
the Missouri valley and west, where it has not the 
quality of thrift and beauty even while young. 

White Spruce. — This is so much like the Norway 
that one accustomed to handling both might not 
see the difference, yet it is a distinct species and 
the difference easy to see when the attention is 
called to it. In Nebraska it is a very much better 
tree and much hardier and more valuable in every 
way. This is called the ' 'White Spruce of Wiscon- 
sin". There is another variety of this, or it is 
claimed by some a distinct species, which is not 
established, and not probable. It will be described 
under the name of the following. 

Black Hills Spruce. — Foliage is much darker, 
and more silvery than the foregoing, a slower 
grower, and the expression of the tree is entirely 



EVERGREENS. 2/5 

different, being more rigid, and closer topped. 
Another important variation is in its ability to 
stand unaided where the Wisconsin variety which 
is very hardy, frequently fails. It is probably a 
seedling that has in some manner wandered away 
to the Black Hills country, where in the last hun- 
dreds or perhaps thousands of years, it has in con- 
formity to the law of the survival of the fittest been 
adapting itself to that climate, until now it stands 
before us as a practically distinct species, but has 
not and never will lose its botanical identity. It is 
one of the most valuable and should and will be 
largely planted. 

Concolor Spruce of Colorado. — This is one of the 
most beautiful of the Rocky Mountain spruces, hav- 
ing but two rivals, one a peer and the other a 
superior. We quote and condense a description 
from the Boston Congregationalist\ ' 'The tree with 
that bright foliage is the Concolor. As the name 
indicates it is even colored, the same the year 
around. But you say. What a marvelous beauty 
this has, ermine and emerald blended. Such a 
sheen; a tree dressed in glory! What is it?' It is a 
robe of matchless beauty the Great Horticulturist 
has given these trees, making them the most 
attractive of any thing on earth. They are held in 
reserve for these latter days, when nature and art 
unite to make home and lawn and landscape so 
attractive to the eye and taste. Note the contrast 
of this rare color with the deep green of the pines. 
They are true to their nature — some trees put on 



276 EVERGREENS. 

wonderful beauty while young; but these retain 
their attractiveness down to old age. But in 
order to see these trees in all their glory, you should 
see them while they are bearing their cones. All 
are dressed in their marvelous attire of silvei and 
green. On one tree the cones are of a deep red 
purple. What a contrast to the other hues — 
another has cones of lightest green, and another 
contrast. The cones grow erect at the top of the 
tree, and are perfect in form, about the size of an 
ear of Sweet corn. As they mature these colors 
seem to deepen, and then from the cones that clear 
gum exudes; the sun shines, and it seems almost 
too beautiful for earth. I note that these trees do 
as well at the east as they do in their own habitat 
and you will soon have these mountain treasures 
there. I have tried selecting seeds from the rarest 
specimen and find that among the thousands now 
coming up, most of them fairly sparkle with silver." 

The above description was evidently written by 
a lover of trees, and while it is somewhat florid, it 
is not overdrawn, as words are poor for painting a 
beautiful tree or flower. This description will 
apply to the Douglass, and with greater force to the 
Pungens, the most beautiful and hardy of all. 

Douglass Spruce. — In habit like the hemlock 
from which it acquired its botanic name, Seudo- 
tsuga, Tsuga being the hemlock species. 

Seen at a distance good specimens are taken for 
the Pungens, and it is said that the specimens 
growing at the greatest elevations produce the 



ENEkGREKNS. 



277 



greatest proportion of the silvery tinted speci- 
mens. 

It is a very rapid grower, somewhat inclined to 




DOUGI,ASS SPRUCE 



be straggling like the European larch when very 
young, but when they are i to 2 feet high they 
stiffen up and grow vigorously. In hardiness will 
rank about with the Norway spruce. 



278. 



EVERGREENS. 



Colorado Blue Spruce. Or Colorado Silver spruce 
(Picea Pungens). — This tree was sent out from the 
Rocky Mountains where it was found growing in 




COIvORADO BI^UE SPRUCE. 



the best perfection on the eastern side, but on the 
north sides of the hills and peaks, and at great ele- 
vations. The oldest tree I have seen stands in Pil- 
ger, Nebraska, on the farm of I. R. Layton, and is 
supposed to be about fifteen years, possibly more. 
It is a very silvery specimen. 



EVERGREENS. 279 

Douglass tells of specimens in Massachusetts, 
Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska, that are 20 
to 30 feet high. In color they range from dark to 
light green, and from light frosty to deep blue. 

The following is copied from Hill : 

'^This is the king of all the spruces, clothed in 
royal robes of silver and sapphire, a very Kohinoor 
among the gems of the Rockies. It is a child of 
the storm king, growing at an altitude of 8,000 to 
10,000 feet above the sea level. It is generally 
found where there are deep gorges, or on the north 
of the ranges. We would naturally suppose that 
it would not endure a sudden change, or thrive in 
a hot climate. There are fine specimens growing 
in Washington and also in North Carolina. 

**The question arises, since it is not found on the 
lower altitudes, or among the foot hills, why does 
it endure such a diversity of soil and climate? The 
answer is, it could not possibly grow there. The 
Douglass and Ponderosa and Concolor, all have 
large seeds and send out a strong plant, and there- 
fore they are found lower down. Pungens seed is 
small, 110,000 to the pound. In the higher alti- 
tudes are frequent showers, and often moss in the 
woods, and the ground is seldom dry. It is not 
hot enough to kill the plants, and so, on the north 
side of the hills and ranges, nature has provided 
for their propagation. 

" The cone of the Pungens is about one-half the 
size of the Norway, and the needles are short and 
sharp-pungent, hence the name. They are pol- 
ished like glass." 



28o EVERGREENS. 

The length of the needles as given above is not 
as I would give it, they in my specimens being 
much longer than the Norway. 

This was formerly called Menzies spruce. 

Hemlock. Abies (or Tsuga) Canadensis. — A very 
beautiful tree and should be in every lawn where 
they are hardy enough to stand. Holds its color 
well through the winter, and like the White pine 
is very soft and flexible. Mehan says, ' ' It would 
not be exaggeration to pronounce this the most 
beautiful of all evergreens." But this was in Penn- 
sylvania, where the climate was just fitted to it. 
It does not do so well in dry climates and dry 
exposures. 

Balsam Fir. — In its younger days this is one of 
the most popular of the evergreens for ornamental 
planting. It is perfectly symmetrical, and nearly 
all trees are uniform in shade, being very dark 
green, and tapering regularly from base to apex. 
In the west it loses its beauty when 20 to 30 feet 
in height, becoming ragged, and limbing off near 
the ground. If the soil is kept very fertile there is 
less danger of this. 

In conclusion let us add here what has been 
omitted, that there is no better precaution can be 
taken with so little trouble in handling evergreens 
than puddling. This consists of dipping the roots 
of the young trees as soon as they ai^e dug into soft 
mud, made about the consistency of batter. If of 
quite stiff clay it is better. No one may claim 
that he has done his duty in sending out evergreens 
who has neglected this. 



CHAPTER XVIL 

Humbugs. 

IT is thought that some space could not be used 
better than in describing some of these "ways 
that are dark, and tricks that are vain." Before 
doing so we must ask your indulgence. This will 
not be of interest to all our readers, for the larger class 
are fully able to take care of themselves. But there 
is a large class that, through lack of time or incli- 
nation to inform themselves and who are very indus- 
trious and excellent citizens, will fall an easy prey 
to the deceptive wiles of itinerant humbugs of all 
kinds, and more especially in this line. It has been 
estimated that in the purchase of trees alone, 
through overcharges, and worthless stock some of 
the states are annually robbed of close to $i,ooo,- 
ooo. Verily, "the American people love to be 
humbugged." 

There is no class of people representing any 
special industry o^ profession that can show a larger 
percentage of honest, upright pains-taking and 
intelligent people than is found in the American 
nurserymen. While there are exceptions in indi- 
vidual cases, the rule stands unchallenged. If we 
deal directly with them, which can generally be 

281 



282 HUMBUGS. 

done, very few mistakes will be made. To deter- 
mine where to place an order it is necessary to use 
the best judgment and not be overcome by the fine 
talk and blandishments of any one. There are 
"nurserymen" whose only claim to that name con- 
sists in their having bought and planted out a few 
root grafts, and whose knowledge of all other mat- 
ters connected with the business is very limited. 

The trees to be planted should be of proper varie- 
ties, well handled, and laid down in good condition. 
This is of more importance than that they are 
grown in any particular locality. 

Dealers. — Palmerston said "Ireland is my dif- 
ficulty. " The nurserymen may well say the same 
of these middle men, and they do say it, and regret 
the apparent necessity of dealing with them, but 
see no way at present of avoiding it. Dealers are 
those who arrange as to terms, price, etc. , previ- 
ously with some nursery, then hire a lot of men as 
their agents, make the season's canvass, and then 
" pack out " at the place named. It is in its best 
sense a sale at wholesale. If these dealers were all 
honest there would be little harm done, but they 
are not always so, and the class of men that they 
hire are put on a strictly " revenue basis." 

It will be seen that the nurseryman has no con- 
nection with any deals with the planter, yet these 
"agents" represent invariably that they arete 
agents of the nursery. In some cases nurserymen 
of otherwise good standing have given to the 
agents of these dealers certificates of agency, of 



HUMBUGS. 283 

such a nature as to relieve them from any legal 
responsibility, but drawn in such a way as to give 
a common person the evidence oi bona fide agency. 
In return for this it is presumed that the dealer 
pays a better price for the stock. In other cases 
the dealers have refused to have labels put upon 
the stock, as they " prefer to make their own varie- 
ties." In one case a very large lot of pistilate 
strawberries were bought and billed out alone, 
either through ignorance or cupidity. This is worse 
than robbery. The plants will grow but they will 
not bear and the labor and pleasurable anticipation 
of seeing the wife and babies gathering in the heap- 
ing" baskets of crimson beauties, as they looked in 
the pictures, will end only as it began, in the dis- 
appointment of a dream. 

The better plan for all would be to sell through 
bona fide agents, giving to each one a certificate as 
such under the court seal, then employ only such 
men as would obey orders, and make a contract 
that to deceive any one should cause discharge. 

The best way would be for every planter to send 
direct to the nursery, but this is out of the question. 
The nurseryman has the same right to live that 
any one else has, and if he depended on dispos- 
ing of his goods in this way he would be compelled 
soon, either to give up living or change his 
vocation. 

With all the ills surrounding the present system, 
it is still better than to wait for the trade that 
would never come. From this we see that under- 



284 HUMBUGS. 

lying all other objections that may be made to this 
system is the fault of the public, which alone has 
the power to change it, but which never will. If 
we could eliminate the dealer and employ agents 
the system would be relieved of its worst objections. 
The nurseryman, either through himself or his 
bona fide agent, is to be commended for going out 
and rustling for his share of the business. 

The Salome Apple. — This is still being sold at 
two to three times its value on the representation 
that it is protected by a patent, and that but one 
nursery in the United States has the right to prop- 
agate it. There is no patent on any tree; never 
has been, and never will be as long as the people 
retain their senses. 

Patent Process. — For the apparent purpose of 
deceiving, and for no other conceivable reason, a 
large nursery keeps this prominently before the 
people, thus inducing their salesmen and the public 
to believe that no other nursery can propagate in 
the way they claim to do it. It is only a trade 
mark; and no one else has a right to use these 
words as describing any mode of propagating; but 
there is no patent on any manner of propagating 
anything; never has been, and never can be. 

Fancy Prices. — Strange as it may seem the local 
nurseryman does not suffer in competing against 
those who put prices down, but the reverse. 
There is an impression that the higher the price, 
the better the goods. The same goods are worth 
so much money, and selling them at double the 



HUMBUGS. 285 

price does not enhance their vahie. A neighbor 
bought a bill of Concord grapes for #100.00 which 
could have been furnished for $10.00 at a fair profit. 

The State Nursery. — This is another ingenious 
mode of swindling. The operator lives at the 
capital, or pretends to, and is the "Superintendent 
of the State Nurseries." In his attire he is gotten 
up regardless of expense, has a fine rig and driver. 
The latter calls at the house of the victim informing 
him that the state nurseryman has been sent there 
and he is invited out to see him. On being intro- 
duced he is met with cold but dignified cordiality. 
He tells his man that he is fortunate in havino- 
some influential friend at the capital who has 
secured for him some of the state's goods, which 
are not sent out till they have been tested and 
fruited five years. The common every day farmer 
is not proof against such dignity, style and patron- 
age. He is flattered by the call of this great man 
and signs gladly whatever he is asked to, and will 
boast to his neighbors of his luck till he finds that 
they have all been ''selected" in the same way. 

There is no such thing as a state nursery, and no 
trees or other goods are grown, or bought and sold 
for iDrofit, by any state (with the possible exception 
of S. Carolina). 

Budded Apple Trees. — This fraud has been 
exposed so often that there ought to be few who 
are not posted in it. The operator travels with 
" two sticks," one he says is cut from a grafted tree, 
which is very much discolored, while the other is 



286 HUMBUGS. 

sound, and he says was cut from a budded tree. He 
is made to believe, without a particle of evidence 
except the word of the stranger that budded trees are 
for that reason always sound, while grafte(f ones, 
for the same reason, are always unsound. A sale is 
made at two or three prices, but the ordinary 
grafted tree is delivered in every case. I have 
examined nearly loo of these trees and have yet to 
find one not grafted. The wrong is in the deception, 
and exorbitant price, as the trees are actually better 
than if a budded tree was really delivered. Any 
one can determine by cutting one of these trees 
whether they are budded or grafted. Examine 
plate No. lo, which gives the form of a splice or 
root graft. Cut into the tree just above the roots, 
where there is usually an unevenness that will 
indicate the splice, this will be found and the parts 
can be separated, as the wood in a graft never 
grows together, but is encased in new wood which 
forms over it. 

Prof Budd, in State Register, Feb. i8, 1887, 
says: "As these budded apple tree chaps are well 
distributed over the state, the real facts should be 
kept before the people. Trees budded on any 
obtainable stock, or seedlings, are not worth plant- 
ing in any part of Iowa, as not one seedling in 500 
is as hardy as our common grafted sorts. Hence, 
if the Duchess of Oldenburg, Wealthy, or Whitney's 
No. 20, or even the crabs should be budded above 
the crown on common seedling stocks they will 
soon go out by root killing. But the wily agent 



HUMBUGS. 287 

claims their trees are budded on French Crab 
stocks. If so, this is still worse, as the so-called 
French Crab seed is from the Perry making sections 
of south France, and their seedlings are as tender 
with us as the peach. Absolutely there is nothing 
in the artful story with which so many are now 
being gulled." 

Tree Blackberry. — These are sold at the present 
time at the same price as the following, $3.00 
each, or two for $5.00. One hundred should be 
bought for the price of one. They are made by 
cutting back a strong cane of any common variety 
and causing it to throw out branches. It resembles 
a tree, and is taken up in the fall and cellared = The 
next year it bears fruit, and like all other black- 
berries dies in the fall, so far as the tree is con- 
cerned, but the root lives, and the next year there 
will be a crop of sprouts or suckers, like any other. 

Evergreen Blackberry. — This is not a myth, but 
is of no value in our climate. In its native home, 
Oregon, it is a partial evergreen. 

Halfdow7i and balance in fruit when trees bear 
is another very ingenious scheme. The price is 
doubled, so that half price is full price, and the 
operator does not figure on his prospective profits 
on fruit. 

Promises outside of the contract., are not binding. 
If one is promised anything that he relies on he 
should see that it is written in the order. The 
only safe way is to demand an exact duplicate of 
the order. A card with the names of trees and 



288 HUMBUGS. 

amount all bundled into one amount under a 
"blanket" is of no value. This will also prevent 
''stuffing" or "padding" the orders, which is 
sometimes done. 

Grape Vine Raspberry. Another myth. There 
is no such thing outside of the prolific brain of the 
vender. The only thing real about it is the price. 

Tree Currants. — These are made as shown under 
"Propagation," which see. They are an oddity, 
but not worth as much as the bush. They cost but 
a trifle more and should be sold at the same price. 

In General^ pass by anything claimed to be new 
and of great value, if there is a great price attached 
to it. If new it is untried, and if it does prove to 
be of value, it will be on the general market soon 
at a reasonable price. 

It is common in many places where a local 
nursery has established a good trade, and a good 
reputation, to try to break it down for the purpose 
of picking it up by outsiders. In such cases they, 
either by an explicit agreement or a tacit under- 
standing, ' ' double up ' ' and all tell the same story, 
such as, "He has sold out," or "Hasn't some kind of 
goods that they are selling," or "Is bankrupt," etc. 
All such stories should be carefully investigated 
before placing confidence in them. I remember 
that when a boy, in going to a strange orchard 
after fruit, I always went first to the trees having 
the most clubs under them. 

"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." 



INDEX. 



A. PAGE. 

Adaptability to Climate 33 

Agents 42 

Advantage of small trees.. 57, 75 

Artificial pollenizing 88 

Abundance plum 155 

A pricots 157 

Alexander peach 161 

Apricot Russian 163 

Ancient Briton blackberry... 193 

Agawam grape 211 

Apples, description of. 217 

Alexander apple 227 

Autumn strawberry apple.. 227 

Aliens choice apple 2.30 

Anisette apple 246 

Aport voronesh apple 247 

Aport apple 247 

Arborvitae 272 

" American 272 

" Siberian 273 

*' Globosa 273 

'* Pyramidallis 273 

B. 

Buds on the roots 27 

Black heart :.31, 77, 111 

Borers 97 

Burrowing animals 100 

Blight 106 

Buhach 110 

Budding 119, 285 

Botan plum 155 

Beder wood strawberry 183 

Bubach, No. 5 strawberry.. 185 

Blackberries 191 

*' covering 193 

Black Naples currant 196 

Buflfalo berry 200 



889 



PAOB. 

Bartell dewberry 199 

Berberry .. 200 

Brighton grape 212 

Benoni apple 226 

Ben Davis apple 231 

Blushed Calville apple 246 

Boiken apple 248 

Bessimianca pear 252 

Black Hills spruce 274 

Balsam fir 280 

C. 

Collar, the 21 

Cion not modified by stock 23 
Cion and stock, unconge- 
nial 23 

Circulation in trees 27 

Cut backs 30 

Climate, adaptability to 33 

Conditions promote hardi- 
ness 35 

Cellar wintering 45 

Cultivating young orchard. 57 

Canning fruit 68 

Cross fertilizing 83 

Corn stalks for protection... 99 

Cuttings 116 

Cleft grafting 123 

Curved hedgerows 137 

Cheney plum 147 

Chas. Downing plum 153 

Crescent City plum 153 

Covering strawberries 182 

Capt. Jack strawberry... 183, 184 

Cuthbert raspberry 188 

Currants 194 

Concord grape 211-213 

Coe grape 212 



290 



INDEX. 



PASK. 

Clinton grape 212 

Croton grape 213 

Coles quince apple 220 

Coopers E. White apple 221 

Colvert apple 225 

Catherine apple 230 

Canada peach apple 221 

•' pippin apple 238 

Cayuga red streak apple 239 

Crab apples 248 

Concolor spruce 275 

Colorado blue spruce 278 

D. 

Dibbles 28 

Dealers 42, 282 

Double working.... 126 

Desota plum 146 

Downing gooseberry 198 

Dewberries 198 

Dwarf Mt. Juneberry 199 

Delaware grape 213 

Duchess grape 213 

•' of Oldenburg 219 

Day apple 226 

Dyer apple 226 

Douglass spruce 276 

B. 

Enlargement near graft 26 

Evergreens root pruned.... 32 

Exposure 48 

Evergreens not moved in 

fall 52 

Enemies of the orchard 91 

Evergreens 138, 255 

" Transplanting 256 

" Groves of 260 

" For the lawn 261 

*' Watering 262 

" Shading 262 

" Pruning...... 263 

" Puddling... 280 

" From seed 264 

Early Victor grape 213 

Elvira grape 213 

Empire state grape 213 

Early harvest apple 218 

Excelsior apple 251 



F. PAGE. 

Fall handling 48, 52 

Fruit blowing off 59 

Feeding the trees 64 

Fruit, thinning the 66 

*• Gathering the 67 

•* Keeping the 68 

" Canning 68 

Fungoids 99 

Flowering shrubs 140 

Forest garden plum 146 

Forest Rose plum 152 

Fall apples 223 

Fall orange apple 225 

Fall wine sap apple 225 

Flemish beauty pear 251 

G. 

Gathering fruit 67 

Ground moles 100 

Grafting 122 

" Wax 126 

" Top 17, 128, 131 

" Top, stocks for 132 

Grouping varieties 138 

Gregg raspberry 189 

Gooseberries 196 

Grapes 203 

" Soil for 203 

" Planting 204 

" Trellising 205 

" Pruning 206 

" Arbor for 208 

" Kinds of 208 

" Covering 209 

" Ripen in shade 209 

" Winter protection 210 

Goethe grape 214 

Grapes of most value 216 

Gross Pomier apple 223 

Grimes golden apple 236 

Gipsy girl apple 247 

Gideon apple 251 

H. 

High fertilizing 27 

Hardiness of trees 33 

Hardy trees, list of. » 36 

Heeling in 50 



INDEX. 



291 



PAGE. 

Hawkeye plum 147 

Hammer plum 153 

Hill's Chili peach 161 

Haverland strawberry 185 

Houghton gooseberry 198 

Hagloe apple 222 

Haas apple 223 

Hislop crab 254 

Hemlock 280 

Humbugs 281 

I. 

Insects 88 

" Useof. 91 

" Damage by 92 

" Leafeating 94 

' ' Leaf crumpler 94 

" Sap suckers 95 

*' Fruit eating 96 

*' Borers 97 

*' Borers not in sound 

wood 98 

" tree crickets 98 

Insecticides 109 

Industry gooseberry 197 

Iowa blush apple 235 

Iowa keeper apple 238 

Idaho pear 253 

J. 

Japan plums 154 

Jessie strawberry 183, 184 

Jeffries apple 228 

Jonathan apple 232 

K. 

Kind of trees 45 

Keeping fruit 68 

Kerosene emulsion 110 

Kilbourn peach 161 

Keswick apple 222 

Kieflfers hybrid pear 253 

Kurskaya pear 253 

L. 

Location and soil 47 

London purple 109 

Layering 118 

Landscape gardening 135 

Laying down peaches 157 



PAGE. 

Longbunch Holland cur- 
rant 196 

La Versllaes currant 196 

Lucretia dewberry 199 

Lady grape 214 

Lowell apple 228 

Lubsk Queen apple 246 

Longfield apple 246 

M. 
Michigan vs. Nebraska trees 15 

Minimum temperature 39 

Making the orchard 41 

Management of orchard 63 

Mice 98 

Miner plum 151 

Maquoketa plum 153 

Milton plum 153 

Martha grape 214 

Merrimac grape 214 

Moores early grape 214 

Maiden blush apple 226 

McMahons white apple 229 

Minkler apple 233 

Mann apple 240 

Mongolian pear 253 

Mountain pine 270 

N. 

Nursery, the 13 

Nursery to orchard 37 

Number of trees to the acre 60 

Natural pollenizing 84 

Northwestern greening 234 

Norway spruce 274 

O. 

Own roots , 14, 18, 26 

Orchard, making the 41 

" Making by contract... 43 

" In sod 49 

" Laying out the 53 

" Management 63 

" Cropsinthe 63 

" Enemies of 91 

Ogon plum 156 

Older raspberry 189 

Okabena apple 240 

Ostrakoff apple 247 

October apple 251 



292 



INDEX. 



P. PAGE. 

Photos, unfairly selected.... 14 

Planting root grafts 28 

Plowing with no dead fur- 
rows ... 28 

Peaches in the north 34 

Pruning and hardiness 39 

Planting trees 53 

"Puddling in" at planting. 53 

Protecting trees 56, 76 

Pruning in general 71 

Pocket gophers .^ 100 

Paris green 109 

Pyrethrum 110 

Propagation 115 

" By seeds 116 

" Cuttings 117 

•' Layering 118 

" Budding 119 

" Grafting 122 

" Rootgrafting 124 

" Side grafting 125 

Plums 143 

" Species of 143 

" Varieties of. 143 to 156 

Peaches 157 

" Training on trellis 157 

Poplar peach 161 

Peaches in S. Dak 163 

Parker Earle strawberry.... 184 

Pocklington grape 214 

Plumbs cider apple 224 

Prices sweet apple 227 

Peerless apple 229 

Pattons greening apple 236 

Pewaukee apple 239 

Peter apple 251 

Pears 251 

Pear blight 251 

Q. 

Quality and hardiness 37 

Quassia chips 110 

Quaker plum 148 

R. 

Root grafts, planting 28 

" Winterkilling 29 

" Protecting 30 



PAGE. 

Root grafts, cultivating 31 

" Firming 32 

Record in trenches 50 

Replace and use 56 

Rabbits 98 

" protection from 99 

Root grafting 124 

Rolingstone plum 148 

Robinson plum 152 

Russian apricot 164 

Raspberries 185 

" Propagation of 186 

" Protecting 186 

" Planting 187 

" Mulching 188 

Red Dutch currant 196 

Russian crab 217 

Red June apple 218 

Red astrachan apple 219 

Rawles Janet apple 233 

Rome beauty apple 233 

Roman stem apple 240 

Russian apples, new 242 

Regal apple «... 248 

Red cedar 270 

S. 

Seedlings, tender ..14, 17, 20 

Short root and long cion 20 

Suckers 26 

Soil and location 47 

Strawberries, fall 32 

Small trees, advantage of 57, 75 

Stripping in nursery 74 

Sun scald 80, 102 

Superknowledgist 113 

Spring budding 121 

Side grafting 125 

Speer plum 148 

Satsuma plum 155 

Salway peach 161 

Smallfruits 179 

Strawberries 179, 182 

Self-fertilizing strawberries 180 
Shaflfer'scollossal raspberry 189 

Souhegan raspberry 189 

Snyder blackberry 193 

Smith's improved goose- 
berry 198 



INDEX. 



293 



PAGE, 

Summer queen apple 218 

Sweet June apple 218 

Sops of wine apple 221 

St. Lawrence apple 228 

Scott's winter apple 234 

Sutton's beauty apple 237 

Salomeapple 238, 284 

Seedling apple 241 

Scotch pine 268 

Silver cedar 272 

T. 

Tap roots indispensable 16 

Type of roots governed by 

stocks 16 

Top grafting 17, 128, 131 

Thinning out fruit 66 

Tong-Pa peach 161 

Turner raspberry 188 

Tyler raspberry 189 

Tetofski apple'. 217 

Talman sweet apple 239 

U. 

Use of insects 88 

Utter's red apple 224 

V. 

Van Buren plum 148 

Varieties of strawberries 183 

Victoria currant 195 

W 
Whole root vs. piece root. 13, 24 
Weeds to shade the ground 36 



PAGE. 

Wintering in cellar 45 

Watering trees 54 

Wind breaks 58 

White wash 104 

White hellebore 109 

Whip grafting 122 

Wyant plum 147 

Weaver plum 147 

Wolf plum 147 

Wild goose plum 152 

Wager peach 164 

Warfield strawberry 183 

White grape currant 195 

Worden grape 211 

Wilder grape 215 

Wealthy apple 224 

Winter apple 230 

Winesap apple 232 

Willow Twig apple 232 

Wythe apple 236 

Walbridge apple 237 

White pippen apple 238 

Wolf River apple 240 

Whitney No. 20 254 

White pine 268 

White spruce 274 

Y 

Yield of strawberries 183 

Yellow transparent 254 

Yellow pine 270 

Z 

Zuzoft's winter 248 










^W 









F^ 



> , 



g^ ^ 



r 



\,: 7N 







nv 



A-) 









